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Posted on Friday 29/05/2015 May, 2015 by Francesca Rudkin


It’s a good week for tennis fans, and a great month for sports fanatics with sport documentaries screening on both Thursday and Friday evenings throughout June on Rialto Channel. Covering off everyone from Lance Armstrong (Stop at Nothing) to Venus and Serena Williams (Venus and Serena), and featuring a variety of sports from skateboarding to bodybuilding, there are some remarkable, almost unbelievable stories to enjoy here. Perfect for the armchair sportsman. Here are my ‘picks of the week’ including two films that feature tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, and Billie Jean King.  





It’s a good week for tennis fans, and a great month for sports fanatics with sport documentaries screening on both Thursday and Friday evenings throughout June on Rialto Channel. Covering off everyone from Lance Armstrong (Stop at Nothing) to Venus and Serena Williams (Venus and Serena), and featuring a variety of sports from skateboarding to bodybuilding, there are some remarkable, almost unbelievable stories to enjoy here. Perfect for the armchair sportsman. Here are my ‘picks of the week’ including two films that feature tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, and Billie Jean King.
  




Thursday 4th June…
Battle of the Sexes
The popular, competitive and lucrative world of woman’s tennis that exists today is in large part thanks to the pioneering efforts of tennis legend and woman’s rights advocate Billie Jean King. Embracing the social history of the time and 70s feminist movement, this entertaining documentary is just as much about politics as it is about Billie Jean King and tennis. The first half of this entertaining documentary sets the scene for the second half, which is taken up with the historic gamed King played against ex-tennis pro, hustler and chauvinist Bobby Riggs. 100 million people watched this controversial game on television, and another 31 thousand piled into the Houston Astrodome to watch it live. Directors James Erskine and Zara Hayes do an excellent job of keeping the intensity high as they relive the game in Battle of The Sexes, and even if you know the outcome of this 1973 tennis match, it’s still an exciting watch. After all, this wasn’t just any old tennis match - it was a match for the ages. It transcended tennis and gave Billie Jean King the opportunity to back up everything she had been fighting for.
 



Friday 5th June…
Venus and Serena
Venus and Serena Williams are two of the most successful professional female athletes around today. They have dominated tennis for over a decade, overcome illness and controversy, and in this documentary by filmmakers Maiken Baird and Michelle Major we’re given a history lesson in how these two African American sisters from the rough part of Compton, bet the odds to get to the top. Most of this story you will have heard before, but what brings it to life are the behind the scenes footage, shot during 2011 when the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to the Williams family. Do we get inside their heads and really find out what makes the tick? Not so much, but we do get a better understanding of the challenges they have faced throughout their careers, and why they’ve decided to face them in their own way, as a tightknit family. We hear little from any of the girl’s colleagues, but there are some nice comments from John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Anna Wintour and of all people, Bill Clinton.



Saturday 6th June… God’s Pocket  

This black comedy is the feature directorial debut from Mad Men actor John Slattery staring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks and John Turturro. It took years for Slattery to get the rights to Peter Dexter’s novel, however this gave him, and co-screenwriter Alex Metcalf the time to write and re-write the script. The film is set in working class South Philadelphia, and tells the story of Mickey (Hoffman) who tries to cover up the truth about his crazy stepson’s death on a construction site. However, life becomes very stressful for Mickey when a local journalist (Richard Jenkins) comes sniffing around for the truth. Originally Slattery offered the role of the journalist to Hoffman, who came back asking to play Mickey. God’s Pocket is Hoffman’s final leading role before his death in 2014 – what a loss.

 


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