The movie "King Richard": why Will Smith will receive an Oscar for this sports drama

American women Venus and Serena Williams are among the most titled tennis players in history. It was simply impossible not to film a story about the success of these girls. But the main character of the film "King Richard" about the Williams sisters was their father, who, in fact, provided his heiresses with a brilliant career. The film started in the Russian box office on November 18, 2021. Our columnist Denis KORSAKOV, who studied the uplifting history of one American family, was not very inspired by it.

How Venus and Serena Williams got started

Compton, located 20 km from Los Angeles, is famous as one of the most criminal cities in the United States (they say, there are about eight times more murders than other American cities). It is also famous as the birthplace of "protest" black rap (the legendary group NWA hails from there, at least two members of which - Ice Cube and Doctor Dre - are known even by the average Russian listener). And finally, this is the homeland of Serena (Demi Singleton) and Venus (Sania Sidney) Williams, who from this kind of mud made their way to the shining courts of Wimbledon and Roland Garros, and now are among the best tennis players of all time.

And none of this would have happened if not for their father, a humble guard Richard Williams (Will Smith). Even before the girls were born, he decided that they would become tennis players, and drew up a detailed 78-page plan for how they would achieve greatness. He says about himself: "I'm in the business of growing champions!" Of course, most of the professionals only chuckle ("Do you mean to say, two Mozarts are growing in your house?"), But at some point he gets lucky. Now the girls (more precisely, so far only the eldest, Venus) have one coach with Pete Sampras, and she wins one junior competition after another. But then the father says to all this junior nonsense his decisive "No": children are only tortured there, they burn out and break down. His daughters will receive a normal education and to remain normal children - only train, train and train in parallel, until they immediately go to a professional court. This is his plan. Everyone around is just twirling their fingers at their temples - but we know who was right in the end.

Lovely Will Smith in DiCaprio's situation

Will Smith is the star and the main advantage of this picture (and also one of its producers). And on March 27, 2022, if the Earth does not hit the celestial axis, he will receive an Oscar - at least now, in mid-November, most Hollywood analysts agree on this. Firstly, for a quarter of a century Smith has been known and loved by the entire planet (and, more importantly, almost all of Hollywood); secondly, he still does not have an Oscar (and it’s time);-that eyelids got an incredibly winning, "gift", one hundred percent Oscar role. This is exactly the same situation in which Leonardo DiCaprio found himself with The Survivor. But, fourthly, Smith is also black - which in the current socio-political conditions, many tend to view as a big plus.

And his "Oscar" will be absolutely deserved. Richard Williams, as Smith plays him, is a surprisingly stubborn, arrogant, intractable man, with some kind of, and pulls to say, a peasant sly - but at the same time not devoid of wisdom. The filmmakers are ready to sing it as if they were creating the life of a saint: special emphasis is placed on humility, which for Richard Williams was (and, apparently, remains now, at his 79 years old) one of the highest virtues.

Five daughters of Richard Williams

At the beginning of the film, impudent young Compton gangsters harass his adopted daughter (in addition to his relatives Serena and Venus, he raised his wife's three daughters from his first marriage); Williams tries to talk to him humanly - and he is beaten. He swallows the insult. A few days later, the bandits meet him and beat him again. Taking a pistol in hand, Williams goes at night to deal with the main offender hanging out in some eatery - and does not have time to reach him along a dark street just a few steps away. They are ahead of him: the young scoundrel is being shot by someone from a passing car. And the hero of Smith - wonderful, I must say, in this scene - exhaling, lowers the pistol and retreats back into the darkness. And this is considered by the authors as a miracle and a warning: if Williams had unloaded the pistol at the villain, there would have been no future for him or his daughters.

Later, Williams would show his five daughters Disney's Cinderella and ask: what was the main quality of the heroine? When the girls try to laugh it off or answer, from his point of view, is wrong, he threatens to play them the tape again from the beginning. And then again and again - until they understand. But nevertheless, having mercy, he immediately explains: "She remained modest, calm and pure in heart, no matter how humiliated she was."

Numb viewer: a critic's opinion

Richard Williams was never respected - and as a result, the whole world began to respect him and his daughters. This is all very cool; you can be glad for Will Smith, and for his hero, and for Venus with Serena and their sisters - they got a strange, but very loving, very strong and wonderfully able to motivate dad. But at the same time, after “King Richard” you leave the hall a little wooden, like Pinocchio. You probably have to love tennis and / or people very much in order to endure these 138 minutes, where endless episodes of training and games, endless showdown with coaches fall on several bright acting scenes. Endless fuss around advertising contracts (today they give $ 3 million, but maybe it's better to wait until they give $ 5 million? And then they can give $ 12 million).

This, frankly, is simply very boring - even the final shock episode of the match where the young Venus fights the famous Arancha Sanchez Vicario. No matter how the director Reinaldo Marcus Green builds up the tension, it is not so important whether the girl wins the champion or not. This is still not "Rocky", where we did not know the future hero. This is where we know that everything with Venus and Serena will be just awesome. And we know this long before we go to the cinema.

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