Parents' Guide to Lefter: The Story of the Ordinarius

Unfortunately, this biopic about Lefter Küçükandonyadis isn't great. There isn't much soccer in Lefter: The Story of Ordinarius other than occasional uncreative scenes of Lefter dribbling a few defenders, shooting, and scoring every time. Sometimes he gets fouled unfairly. Other than the methodical and brief soccer montages scattered throughout the movie, the primary focus is Lefter's romantic life. Thus, the first half is dominated by him and his wife Stavrini falling in love, and the second half is dominated by Lefter's affair with Meri, who takes over focus until Lefter decides to leave his wife for her. But then the "5 years" of this relationship with Meri (that also produces a son) is haphazardly montaged in a 20-second dreamlike sequence at the end of the movie. And without any reaction or explanation, when Lefter "returns" home to his wife after being away for 5+ years, with new son in tow, she inexplicably smiles and welcomes him home unproblematically.

Choosing to focus on the relationships in his life means that other things about his legacy have to be cut or omitted. So, if you are hoping for an almost documentarian level of information in this biopic, you will be severely disappointed. There are no stats, no "behind the scenes" of soccer, no recreations of famous matches, goals, or sporting moments like the World Cup in 1954. It's hard to shake the feeling that, for a sports biopic about a famous soccer player, this film seems not to like soccer that much. In a weird way, this feels like a romance drama involving two women and a man, and the man happens to play soccer professionally for a living.