Curator Watchlist
A sharp, funny, and very Irish sports-drama chamber piece, built around a legendary football fallout and powered by strong performances and a charged sense of national memory. It should land especially well for viewers who like character-driven conflict, locker-room politics, and movies that turn a real-life… Read more
Where to watch: Buy
Sat · 1h 30m
Director: Glenn Leyburn, Lisa Barros D'Sa
Starring: Éanna Hardwicke, Steve Coogan, Alice Lowe
On the eve of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Irish captain Roy Keane forfeits his place in the squad at the team's preparation base in Saipan, following a heated disagreement with manager Mick McCarthy.
Glenn Leyburn, Lisa Barros D'Sa
Éanna Hardwicke, Steve Coogan, Alice Lowe
A sharp, funny, and very Irish sports-drama chamber piece, built around a legendary football fallout and powered by strong performances and a charged sense of national memory. It should land especially well for viewers who like character-driven conflict, locker-room politics, and movies that turn a real-life grievance into something mythic.
Saipan turns one of modern football’s most infamous ruptures into a tense, compact drama about pride, authority, and the burden of being a national symbol. The setup is simple, but the emotional stakes are huge: a team preparation camp becomes a pressure cooker where every slight feels historic.
What makes it work is the balance between seriousness and wit. The film understands that this story is both absurd and deeply consequential, and it leans into the awkwardness, the resentment, and the bruised masculinity without losing sight of the human cost. The performances carry a lot of that weight.
It’s not a conventional sports film, and that’s a strength. Rather than chasing the match-day high, it focuses on the fracture before the tournament, when identity, loyalty, and ego collide. For viewers tuned into football culture, it’s catnip; for everyone else, it’s still a lean, well-observed drama about a relationship that implodes in public.
DonKian (3.5★) · 1597 likes
People will say Éanna Hardwicke killed it in his portrayal of Roy Keane. And look he’s done brilliantly for himself and all. But we can keep ourselves grounded, can’t we? He’s an actor. It’s like praising the postman for delivering the mail. That’s his job.
Seán (3.5★) · 498 likes
Every time they start to lose you in the movie they play a tiktok football hope core edit. And it worked every time to pull me back in
gráinne (3.5★) · 481 likes
autistic king roy keane faces untold horrors at the hands of alan partridge
Ian Curran (4★) · 384 likes
Waiting For The GOAT To say Roy Keane was Ireland’s answer to JFK Jr. and that Saipan was his plane crash (at least in an Irish shirt), would be truthful and melodramatic all at once. If you were a football fan in the 90s — especially an Irish Man United fan like I was — Roy, much like JFK Jr. in that decade was the prince who was promised. From the moment he signed from Nottingham Forest, the hope was… more
AugustJames (3.5★) · 226 likes
Oscar for most unwarranted penis shot
A blistering football drama about ego, power, and a combustible manager-player dynamic, with the same pleasure of watching a sporting legend become a human problem.
For viewers who enjoy football culture and the absurdity around national-team pressure, this is the sharper comic counterpoint.
A serious, performance-led true-story drama about identity under pressure and the emotional cost of public conflict.
Not a sports film, but it shares the same electricity of a relationship collapsing into a defining cultural story.
A smart, restrained sports drama that focuses on process, leadership, and the tension between belief and authority.
A gritty, character-first sports drama where family loyalty, resentment, and pride matter as much as the competition itself.
For the same pressure-cooker feel: men negotiating power, reputation, and control in a tense, contained setting.
A dryly comic British-Irish ensemble piece that understands regional identity, bruised masculinity, and small-scale chaos.
A warm, funny, distinctly Irish character comedy with a strong sense of place and an ear for everyday conflict.
Another Irish ensemble story about ambition, friction, and the messy joy of collective identity.
A crowd-pleasing but character-driven story about pride, teamwork, and men improvising under pressure.
For its intimate, memory-driven look at Irish identity and the emotional force of a specific place and era.
sports rivalry, ego and pride, national identity, team conflict, authority and rebellion, male friendship and betrayal, true-story drama, media mythmaking
sports drama, biographical drama, true story, football, Irish cinema, character study, conflict, 2000s setting, national identity, dark humor