There‘s a time before Michael Jordan and a time after Michael Jordan. This applies to the US professional basketball league the NBA and also the sporting goods manufacturer Nike. The story of how Michael Jordan landed at Nike and turned a company that was way behind competitors Adidas and Converse in the basketball arena into a global brand is a very American and thoroughly capitalist story. It mostly took place like it does in Ben Affleck‘s AIR, in which Michael Jordan is constantly present without actually ever appearing. You only see the athlete in TV clips, he‘s sitting together with his parents at the negotiation table, can only be seen from the back and doesn‘t say a word. No actor could withstand the comparison, explains Affleck, and this makes dramaturgical sense as well. AIR is chiefly about marketing expert Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), who is the head of Nike‘s floundering basketball department in the early 80s. Sonny believes that Jordan is the player that would turn Nike into more than a shoe company: a global brand, cool and hip. The average joe sets out to sign Jordan with the same passion that Jordan revolutionized basketball with, The film is so thrillingly made that you forget that you‘re watching the story of a corporation that usually has low-income countries produce their goods. The consequences of the excessive marketing of a superstar can still be seen today, not just in the US, but also in the global soccer business. However, that‘s another story that is only lightly touched on in AIR.

Michael Meyns (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy