The Sunday Mail
Film Review
Tinashe Kusema
SOMEWHERE on the internet is a quaint picture of Bianca Andreescu kissing her US Open trophy.
It was shot just after she beat fans’ favourite Serena Williams 6-3, 7-5 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre.
For her efforts, the Canadian pocketed US$3,85 million, the very same amount men’s champion Rafa Nadal won after beating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 the following day.
It (Canadian kiss) is a sight likely to have put a smile on the face of the now-retired Billie Jean King, who, in 1970, fought tirelessly and put her career on the line to put women’s tennis on equal footing with their male counterparts.
The story is excellently put on the big screen by the 2017 biopic “Battle of the Sexes” starring the incomparable Emma Stone (Bille Jean), Steve Carrell (Bobby Riggs), Sarah Silverman (Gladys Heldman) and Bill Pullman (Jack Kramer).
The film picks up at the height of King’s powers in 1970, when she is fresh of a title win and jumps to the top of the rankings.
Sadly, her win pales in comparison to her male counterpart in terms of prize money.
Upon hitting the brick wall that is Kramer, a top-ranking official and tournament organiser, King rallies the troops and they start their own tour.
Together with Julie Heldman, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Judy Dalton, Kristy Pigeon, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kerry Melville Reid, Nancy Richey, and Rosie Casals, they begin what will go down in history as the Women Tennis Association.
Just as the tour starts to get some traction, former world tennis champion and renowned hustler and gambler Bobby Riggs sees an opportunity to relive his glory days and challenges King to a tennis match.
King initially refuses.
When Riggs, at the age of 55, humiliates temporary number one ranked women tennis player Margret Court, King steps up to defend the integrity and pride of the women’s game.
And the stage is set for what goes down as the “Battle of the Sexes” winner-takes-all match.
There are a few things that make the Netflix production one of the underrated movies of 2017.
Chief among them is the subject matter, pinpoint casting, performances and cinematography.
This film serves as a tutorial on how a biopic should be handled.
It stays true to the historical facts of the match, but does lend its own writers’ creativity.
The characterisation is on point as Stone and Carrell do a splendid job of bringing these chief characters to life.
A lot of sub-plots like both characters’ family drama is downplayed, and this is good in that their off-court drama plays virtually no part in the main plot.
The subject is also key to this movie’s success, critical rather than financial, as equal pay is still very much topical issue, with the most recent example coming from the US women’s national football team playing second fiddle financially to their male counterparts, despite being more successful.
Performance-wise, Carrell shines head and shoulders above the rest, and yes, I recognise the irony of the said statement.
Much like he did in the 2014 classic “Foxcatcher”, the 57-year-old shows his more dramatic credentials.
Yes, there are elements of comedy in Riggs’ persona, especially during his goading of King to a match and the marketing of said match, but according to my research, most of these more comic elements are either true or as close to accurate as possible.
Stone and a couple other co-stars — namely Silverman, Pullman, Eric Christian Olsen, Fred Armisen — bring about both some star-power and credible performances.
The film’s biggest win is its delicate balance of drama and action, which when dealing with such sensitive subjects is very important.
Most sports films, whether biopics or simply fictional, tend to go to great lengths to ‘shock and awe’ in all the action scenes.
