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[doomonfilm]

Review : King Richard (2021)

As a young Black child of the 1980s, I remember the Williams family tennis experiment very well.  My father had already made me aware of the work that Earl Woods was doing with his already famous (and soon to be infamous) son Tiger, so it was extremely interesting to see a similar story taking place in Compton with Richard Williams and his daughter Venus.  It didn’t take a genius to see that Venus had championship pedigree, but even the most seasoned of tennis fans was caught off guard by Serena’s meteoric rise and dominance of the sport.  No matter how many glass ceilings the Williams sisters broke, and in spite of the numerous adversities they faced on all levels, they made sure to be humble and honest.  It is this spirit that carries the rags to riches story of King Richard into the upper echelon of 2021 film.

A biopic is only as good as the pedigree of how real life events are dramatized and presented, and with that in mind, the most significant praise must go to the brilliant performances of all cast involved in King Richard.  The Williams family is brought to life chiefly by the chemistry between Will Smith and Aunjanue Ellis... Smith’s portrayal of Richard Williams is full of pride misunderstood as stubbornness, not to mention a healthy dose of belief-infused self-righteousness, and all of this balanced out by the unconditional love and deep devotion Ellis builds her portrayal of Oracene "Brandy" Price off of.  The tall task of portraying the Williams sisters falls on the shoulders of Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton (portraying Venus and Serena, respectively), and Sidney captures the tender but competitive spirit of Venus Williams perfectly, while Singleton can be seen harnessing the no-nonsense competitive drive and independent fierceness that Serena Williams came to make the cornerstone of her identity.  Tony Goldwyn brings the cocky over-confidence of the old guard to the table, while Jon Bernthal goes polar opposite against type to portray the over-exuberance and frustration that come part in parcel with faith in a sure thing waiting to crystalize.  Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew, Danielle Lawson and Layla Crawford round out the Williams/Price family with their humor and support-filled family moments.  Supporting performances from Vaughn Hebron, Andy Bean and Craig Tate also stand out, while Kevin Dunn, Jessica Wacnick, Chase Del Rey, Marcela Zacarias and Christopher Waller all step in to portray various tennis icons.

The heart of this film is found in the purity of a true bootstraps, rags to riches story focused through the lens of the Black experience that is still able to be wholly relatable to any and everyone who has ever found themselves fueled by a dream and determined to make it reality.  There is an overabundance of love to be found amongst the connective threads within the film, but the story never panders to the audience by painting the picture as a perfect one, often times staring the strife and frustration that comes with sticking to your guns right in the face.  While the Williams sisters did manage to escape many of the trappings that come with growing up in Compton, it would have been disingenuous to paint their ascension as struggle-free, so the dramatic tension that is found between Richard and Brandy, Richard and Venus and Serena and Venus, though all centered in love, are palatable because they come from places that we as an audience can understand in some context, as all of us have watched decisions be made for us or have had to stand in someone else’s shadow knowing our potential for greatness.  Add to this the fact that Richard Williams is trying to sale a dual dream to people who had, up to that point, shaped the inner and outer framework of tennis on the amateur and professional levels in all aspects, and the Sisyphean nature of his task immediately breeds grounds for obstacle after obstacle, not to mention clashes of ideals and talk of changing out the old guard.

Speaking of the old guard, King Richard does a bold job of facing the embedded race issues head on without (for lack of a better term) weighing down the story under the gravity of that topic.  Venus and Serena Williams have always found themselves the center of race-based debates in the sporting realm, be it for their style of play on the court or the literal styles they adorn on and off the court, so it makes sense that King Richard would give us the path the led to their willingness to shoulder that burden via the ways that Richard Williams doesn’t sell himself, his ideals or his daughters short at any point in the path.  When Venus begins demolishing the Junior Circuit and the rest of the family finds themselves getting wound up in the celebration, it is Richard who is willing to fall on the sword and give the bittersweet reminder that they must excel with humility, as their mere presence already upsets the balance to a point that many are not willing to handle with grace.  It is Richard who reminds them that not everyone will celebrate their success, and that most of the people who will be jealous of them and try to hold them back will look just like them, and it is Richard who reminds them that they must be themselves when they are literally uprooted and moved across the country to continue training in a completely foreign environment.  Giving an actor like Will Smith a personality as rich as Richard Williams to portray is a guaranteed recipe for success, and with such a high bar set in the lead role, it is natural that everyone else will rise to the occasion. 

The movie is not flashy in terms of the technical aspects, but it was certainly never meant to be a visual spectacle.  Every ounce of this film was seemingly created to be a feel-good story that lets us outsiders into the heartfelt struggle of Richard Williams as he attempts to mold Venus and Serena Williams into the champions he always envisioned them to be while both protecting them from Compton and making sure he does not rob them of a childhood.  In that sense, this film is a resounding success, and while it will probably not be a box office blockbuster, it will likely be a critical darling, another step forward for the career of Will Smith, and based on the competition thus far, a film that may find some success this awards season.  I am definitely curious to see what kind of run this film has, and I will likely be returning to it in the near future.