A group of youth chase a football they have kicked into the Moskva river. 

SYNOPSIS:

http://www.magicalrealism.us/2014/06/21/bucking-horse/ or possibly titled , Dynamo Football vs. Moskva River screenplay by Lee A. Miller A group of youth chase a football they have kicked into the Moskva river. The story is told through the perspective of Vlad Agapov, who is reminiscing on his first summer in Moscow. In 1989, Vlad moves with his mother and stepfather, Semyon. During his first summer in Moscow, Vlad struggles to make new friends. Semyon is a huge football fan and has a room of memorabilia – autographed footballs, posters, magazines, trophies and uniforms. His most prized possession is an autographed ball by Lev Yashin. “The Black Spider” or “The Black Panther” was a Soviet era football goalkeeper, considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the game. He played for the Soviet nation teams in four World Cups and with Dynamo Moscow from 1950 to 1970. In 2002 was Yashin was chosen for the FIFA Dream Team of the history of World Cups. Vlad’ step-father doesn’t share much of anything with him. He doesn’t know how to play football and he has never heard of Yashin. Vlad’ only link to the sport are the boys in the neighborhood. Vlad desperately wants the approval of his step father. Thus far it has been absent. One afternoon, Vlad decides to follow a group of neighborhood boys, and watches them play an improvised game of football at a small field, near the Moskva river. He is reluctant to join their game, as he fears he will be ridiculed on account of his inexperience. Nevertheless, he chooses to play with them, but fails to kick even the most simple of balls. All the other players, except for Timur Yeltsin, begin to jeer Vlad for committing miscues, prompting him to leave the field in embarrassment. Timur, who is the best player in the neighborhood, shields Vlad from the insults of his peers, and invites him to rejoin their game. He proceeds to give Vlad advice and helps him earn the respect of the other players. It takes a very long time for Vlad to become an integral part of the team. He is not a good player and lacks confidence. As Vlad continues to play with the team, he begins to learn many of the customs of the youth football in Moscow, while experiencing many summer misadventures with his new friends: Challenging and winning a game against their arch-rival, the rich kids at a manicured field, after they come on their bikes and insulted them on their field. The characters of this film are lower-middle class. The river is very near one end of the field. The river is behind one goal. If the ball is kicked too hard it will make it to the river before it can be retrieved. One player’s sister is required by their mother to stay with her brother; she is given the responsibility to sit on a bench and to stop any errant footballs from going in the river. They nearly lose one ball and finally they do lose one that is kicked over the goal. There is a hole in the net — high and near the top, in the back corner, but the boys mention, “What are the odds the ball goes through the hole.” Timur accomplishes a magical bicycle kick and also he ruptures its leather, causing the ball to deflate. The goal ties the game. The group cannot afford to buy another football, and is forced to retire for the afternoon. However, Vlad runs to Semyon’s trophy room, and steals an autographed ball, in hopes of preserving and winning the game. The team is impressed with Vlad gesture. Vlad is the most unlikely player to score a goal. However, he wins the game with his first goal ever. Vlad kicks the ball into the goal and through the hole, the ball rolls down and into the river. The glory of a goal is shortly enveloped by fear once he realizes that he has lost his stepfather’s ball. The situation is further worsened when Vlad realizes that the ball was autographed by Yashin, and is almost irreplaceable. Vlad and his friends chase the ball down the river on bicycles and on foot. They are exhausted and fail to recover the ball. Vlad prepares to accept his fate. They don’t return until night. All the boys have negative dreams of the ball being destroyed. That night, Timur can’t sleep he is haunted and emotional about the incidence. In a magical vision, he hears the ball being kicked loudly against the wall outside. No one else seems to wake up. Timur looks out the window and sees a player dressed entirely in black. Timur walks downstairs and tries to kick a few past Lev Yashin (the Black Panther), who encourages him to play hard on the field, in life, to build a boat and use his engineering skills to recover the ball. Yashin leaves him with the words, “”What kind of a goalkeeper is the one who is not tormented by the goal he has allowed? He must be tormented! And if he is calm, that means the end. No matter what he had in the past, he has no future unless tormented.” Timur rallies his friends the following morning at the field, and prepares to recover Vlad’ football. Vlad tries to convince Timur not to, but the decision was already made. They build a boat out of materials they find cast aside. They begin a journey they will remember their entire life. At the end of the journey, they find the ball destroyed. It was smashed between to large ships. It is water logged and obviously ruined. The boys beach the boat and are in distraught. A man in a wheel chair is rolling along the river notices the despair. He invites them to his home that he has a replacement for them. The boys tell the man about the ordeal. Once at the house, the man, reveals that he is Lev Yashin. In 1986, following a thrombophlebitis contracted while he was in Budapest, Lev Yashin underwent the amputation of one of his legs. Yashin tells them if they come to him about the football that had had his signature, he would’ve signed a new one for them. Yashin opens a closet and about 20 balls roll out, he is about to sign one, but notices Vlad face is perplexed. It isn’t the same ball. The balls are all new. None seem to match the destroyed ball. Yashin agrees to give Vlad a ball signed by the entire 1966 World Cup national team. This was the tournament in which the Soviet Union team advanced the farthest by finishing in fourth place. In exchange, the boys are to visit Yashin once a week to talk about football. Vlad proceeds to give his stepfather the ball that Yashin gave him. While his stepfather is still mad at him, they eventually get over the issue. Back in 2015, Vlad then goes on to explain what became of all his friends, and the future careers they pursued. Vlad has become a television commentator for the Moscow Dynamo. He walks past the bronze statue of Yashin each day on his walk to work. Timur is one of the team’s star players, nicknamed “the Engineer”. While he is in the twilight of his career, Timur manages a spectacular goal. We learn that the other boys on the journey have lead interesting and responsible lives. The journey down the Moskva River can be seen as the pivotal point between childhood and the beginning of adulthood.

DYNAMO VS. THE MOSKVA RIVER

http://www.magicalrealism.us/2014/06/21/bucking-horse/