BEFORE: Spike Lee carries over from "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists" - and I was torn over whether to put this one here, in between two other docs with Spike Lee, or save it for next week, where I have two other tennis-based docs scheduled. Either way, it would work, as there's so much overlap in my chosen docs, but I'm putting it here because one other interviewee also carries over, and I'll just catch back up with the tennis stars next week.
I've got a whole week of sports docs, so it's a Jock Doc Block for sure. And as I mentioned before, there's also a focus this time around on athletes and musicians of color, so it's my de facto late version of Black History Month, since I couldn't get to that topic in February.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "King Richard" (Movie #4,238)
THE PLOT: As of 2011, Venus and Serena Williams had been winning championships for over a decade, pushing the limits of longevity in such a demanding sport. This film grants unprecedented access into their lives during the most intimidating year of their career.
AFTER: At times this documentary felt like a shot-for-shot remake of "King Richard", but I realize how backwards that sounds, because this film came out about a decade earlier, and also feature the REAL footage, everything in "King Richard" was a re-creation of THIS, it's just that I watched that 2021 biopic first, that's all. The footage of Richard Williams loading his tennis playing daughters into a minivan in the mornings, going to early morning practices and teaching them unconventional methods like throwing their rackets over and over, all this footage was re-shot with a made-up Will Smith to resemble reality, I get that.
But there is stuff hear that "King Richard" didn't cover, as it follows both women on the pro tennis circuit over the course of a whole year, their "comeback" year after Serena had a hematoma and a pulmonary embolism, while Venus was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease. I don't think that the dramatic film mentioned these health problems, but I could be wrong. I also don't think "King Richard" mentioned that their parents got divorced, which is a pretty notable exclusion. Richard Williams and Oracene Pryce kept co-parenting and co-coaching their daughters, but it was probably much more awkward when Dad's new wife was also hanging around. Also a son from a previous relationship that he kind of forgot to mention.
But Richard and Oracene were the ultimate "helicopter" parents, or tiger parents (as in Tiger Woods) who drilled the lessons of success into their daughters - sure, it's great to tell your kids that they can achieve greatness in whatever field they want, but what's seen here is a special kind of brainwashing where the parents practically willed a couple of tennis champions into being. And there's no doubt that this benefited the parents, once their daughters started winning tournaments and getting endorsement deals, so you have to wonder if they did this all for their daughters' benefit, or their own. It somehow goes beyond teaching kids about hope and achievement, I think. Sure, the story of the Williams sisters is probably inspiration to kids of all colors, everywhere, but how many of those other kids really have the potential to be tennis champs, and would they even want to?
I can't argue with the statistics, of course - Venus Williams has seven Grand Slam singles titles, while Serena has 23, and together they hold 14 women's doubles titles. They've been ranked as No. 1 and 2, side by side, several years in a row. Nobody's disputing their success, I just don't know what might have gotten lost along the way, like childhood or an inability to see the world as from anything but a champion's point of view, for starters. Then, what does that do to any person's ego or personality? It's probably just sour grapes on my part, I suppose.
Same question, with regards to their personal lives - one of Serena's exes is Brett Ratner, cancelled filmmaker and widely-recognized garbage human. Congrats on breaking up with him, I suppose, but boo for getting together with him in the first place. She's married to the founder of Reddit now, most likely a better choice. Venus has dated a pro golfer, a Cuban model and a publishing heir, no ring on that finger yet, just saying. '
What's weird is that the sisters are also friends, teammates AND rivals on the court - and it's tough to see how all of those things are possible. They've won Doubles titles together, but then they've often had to play each other in the singles division of the same tournaments - how do they switch the rivalry off and on? Since I don't really follow the sport, I wish the documentary could have done a deep dive into this study in contrasts - instead we get a breakdown of Serena's alleged multiple personalities, Summer, Megan-Serena, and Laquanda aka "Psycho Serena". While this condition is a bit concerning, it also seems to be very interesting, and I think also warranted a bit more explanation. Perhaps they are coping mechanisms for dealing with difficulties, but I'd keep an eye on Laquanda if she's the one that surfaces when a line judge's rulings don't go Serena's way. Again, just saying.
So it's a fascinating portrait of two pro athletes who also seem to be, and I don't mean this to be perjorative, a bit mentally messed up. But we need to know where this comes from, if it's a direct result of the way they were force-trained by their parents, or if it's got something to do with being Jehovah's Witnesses, or if it's some by-product of the mindset resulting from winning so many championships. It could be crucial to determine if all that success breeds an ego trip, and what the fallout from that might be, though I've obviously got my suspicions. It's obvious that when the sisters face "adversity", which is defined as "not winning a particular championship", there's some sense of entitlement there. They wouldn't get so mad about it unless they felt that they deserved to always win, and I wonder who taught them that? Even self-proclaimed "obsessive perfectionists" might do better if they could somehow learn to lose gracefully, even once in a while.
Also starring Venus Williams, Richard Williams, Oracene Price (all last seen in "King Richard"), Serena Williams (last seen in "Glass Onion"), Raul Arevalo, Victoria Azarenka, Sascha Bajin, Bill Clinton (last seen in "Flag Day"), Common (last seen in "The Informer"), Carlos Fleming, Leland Hardy, Martina Hingis, Billie Jean King (last seen in "Battle of the Sexes"), Rick Macci, Iva Majoli, John McEnroe (last seen in "Ocean's Eight"), Patrick McEnroe, Arnon Milchan, Isha Price, Arnold Rampersad, Brett Ratner, Dave Rineberg, Chris Rock (last seen in "Amsterdam"), Jill Smoller, Irina Spirlea, Gay Talese (also carrying over from "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists"), Jon Wertheim, Lakeisha Williams, Anna Wintour (last seen in "Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold")
with archive footage of Arthur Ashe, Marion Bartoli, Mary Carillo, Kim Clijsters, Jimmy Connors, Katie Couric (last seen in "True Memoirs of an International Assassin"), Matt Lauer (last seen in "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond"), Martin Luther King (also last seen in "Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists"), Malcolm X (ditto), Rosa Parks, Samantha Stosur, Marlon Wayans (last seen in "On the Rocks")
RATING: 4 out of 10 post-match interviews
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