Best

There are plenty of accounts of the rise and fall of George Best, arguably the most talented footballer to emerge from the British Isles. But director Daniel Gordon, who proved his pedigree with documentaries on Hillsborough and the scandal-ridden 100m race at the Seoul Olympics, produces a beautifully balanced perspective that extols Best's sublime skills while offering sobering analysis of how unprecedented fame (for a footballer), alcohol and his inner demons stalled his progress. The familiar feel-good details are here, of a teenage prodigy from Belfast, hailed as the fifth Beatle, whose wizardry galvanised Manchester United to European Cup glory. However much of this riveting, illuminating film reflects on Best's life after 1968: his frustration with United's lack of vision after the departure of manager Matt Busby; tabloid torment and domestic decline; and his career in America from the mid-70s, an initially happy time for himself and first wife Angie... until he bought a pub. Indeed, his tour-de-force goal in a 1981 match, inspired by a dodgy refereeing decision, is a rousing last hurrah. Gordon's film is neither hagiography nor hatchet job - incisive input from George's wives Angie and Alex, ex-players Mike Summerbee and Pat Crerand, and doyen of sports journalists Hugh McIlvanney make sure of that. Ultimately, it's a poignant, tragically familiar tale of a great talent wasted (he died in 2005, aged 59). But what a talent.