Film No. 3 (2021) January 9th. 1.20 PM Cinema 5. LUNA, Leederville.
"The chances of achieving the types of success you are talking about is very, very unlikely."(Not for the first time, Richard is advised by a perspective sports agent on the chances of his girls becoming world beaters in the tennis world).
Would Tiger Woods have been a better, more stable person if he'd had a father who set the sort of life standards Richard Williams set his daughters Venus and Serena? After watching KING RICHARD it's a burning question I mull over. Will Smith presents us with a Richard Williams who laid everything on the line to give his daughters the chance to become not just the best, but the very, very best. Surprisingly, with a, have fun through sport, ethic.
Sports movies, while not as popular a genre as the Romcom, remain popular cinema fodder nevertheless. And like the Romcom, good sports films can be few and far between. They play to a formula. If they depict real sports heroes then we need to know the trials, tribulations, sliding door moments, loves etc. Then it's down to in how balanced a way these elements are handled. Reinaldo Marcus Green (JOE BELL, MONSTERS AND MEN) is a black American who knows his subject matter, and other than a couple of cliched moments, KING RICHARD is easily his best film yet.
The fact Serena and Venus are executive producers means embellished odd facts are minimal, thus what we see on screen happened. Richard Williams is the subject here and while there are stories purporting that he was harder on his girls than the film depicts, Green never shies from the mistakes Williams made along the way.
A problem for many sports films depicting real talent is making us believe that their sports scenes depict legitimate technique. KING RICHARD masters this like no other. We are never disbelieving of the talents these sisters possess, from practice hit-ups to the closing scene; a match in front of a packed stadium. Attention to detail is front and centre here.
But, importantly, Will Smith never allows our attention to wander. Richard Williams, while quite the flawed man, is strong in his views and at his core has only the very best intentions for his family. Whether he was misguided and simply fluked two sporting geniuses who made his hype real or, he was the motivator who took his daughters to stardom, we'll never know. Both theories ring true in KING RICHARD.10GUMS.
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