Tennis fans can take a break from Roland Garros this week and immerse themselves in the fascinating documentary Althea about one of the game’s great players, Althea Gibson. A moving and inspirational story, the film documents her life and career, including the many obstacles she had to overcome to become the number one female tennis player in the world. Catch Althea this Wednesday evening at 8.30pm in Rialto Presenters: Sports Stories introduced by Willie Los’e.
Here are my highlights for the week.
Tennis fans can take a break from Roland Garros this week and immerse themselves in the fascinating documentary Althea about one of the game’s great players, Althea Gibson. A moving and inspirational story, the film documents her life and career, including the many obstacles she had to overcome to become the number one female tennis player in the world. Catch Althea this Wednesday evening at 8.30pm in Rialto Presenters: Sports Stories introduced by Willie Los’e.
Here are my highlights for the week.
Being Flynn …Saturday 11th June, 8.30pm
Other than staring in David O Russell films, in recent years 7 time Oscar nominee and 2 time winner Robert De Niro has taken to appearing in lightweight films reassuring baby boomers they’re relevant, and can still party large from Last Vegas to Dirty Grandpa.
Thankfully in writer director Paul Weitz’s Being Flynn, his performance as a down on his luck delusional drunk reminds us there’s so much more to De Niro’s repertory than chasing chicks with Zac Efron.
Based on playwright and poet Nick Flynn’s memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Being Flynn tells the story of a father (De Niro) and son (Paul Dano) who reunite after 18 years apart. Their first encounter is unemotional and practical – the elderly Flynn needs a hand moving out of his apartment. Their second encounter at the young Flynn’s work place – a refuge for homeless people – throws both of these aspiring writers lives into turmoil. Both De Niro and Dano are superb as shattered, angry and resentful men searching for an escape from their predicament. The film explores the idea of whether or not we’re fated to become our parents and is it possible to create yourself? As you can imagine, it’s a bittersweet story.
De Niro and Dano are nicely supported by Julianne Moore as De Niro’s ex wife and Olivia Thirlby as the younger Flynn’s girlfriend, and for those fans of About a Boy, Damon Gough a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy is back taking care of the music.
This film was released in 2012 after Weitz spent seven years writing draft upon draft to then shoot the film in 35 days. De Niro had been involved with the project from the beginning, and after the film was green lit, Nick Flynn took De Niro and Weitz to meet his father. The first thing Flynn senior says to De Niro was “So, do you think you can pull this off?”
Althea …Wednesday 8th June, 8.30pm
I am embarrassed to say, but I didn’t know who Althea Gibson was before watching this documentary – and I’m a tennis fan. One of the great pioneering female tennis players, African American Althea Gibson broke down barriers of class, race and gender in her bid to become one of the greats who over the years has been forgotten by both the ‘tennis establishment’ and the public. Until now.
The son of two tennis fanatics, filmmaker Rex Miller was inspired to make this biography after he rediscovered a photograph of his mother standing with Althea Gibson at a tournament in 1958. Gibson’s story is remarkable. The daughter of Southern sharecroppers who moved north to Harlem in the 1930s, Gibson grew up on the streets of Harlem. After showing some aptitude for tennis, Althea started playing in racially segregated tennis competitions, and went on to became the first African-American to play at (and win) Wimbledon and the US Open.
Playing in the amateur era, Gibson struggled to make ends meet, and while she was celebrated by ticker-tape parades in New York City, twice, to welcome her home after hard-fought victories, personally life was a struggle.
The documentary is put together using archive footage, engaging interviews, subtle reenactments and clever animated drawings, and is as much a look at the history of tennis as it is a biography. Even though Gibson passed away in 2003, plenty of people who knew her well give great insight into what made this complex woman tick, including Angela Buxton, her Jewish doubles partner. Image how many tennis clubs these two were denied entry into!
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story… Thursday 9th June, 8.30pm
A few years back, there was Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, the story of Kevin Clash and now, it is time for Caroll Spinney to step into the limelight. I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story documents puppeteer Caroll Spinney’s 40 plus years playing the optimistic big yellow bird, as well as his polar complete Oscar the Grouch.
The film was partly crowd funded, and the love people have for both Caroll and the characters he created is clear to see. Caroll doesn’t see himself as Big Bird, but rather as the ‘soul’ of Big Bird which goes some way to explaining why in his 80s he’s still involved with the tall, bright yellow bird.
Much like the character Spinney portrays, this documentary is a warm, charming and positive film, but it’s not without its sad moments. Caroll takes us through his childhood where he reflects on being bullied by his father and peers for his love of puppets, and on how his divorce left him depressed and suicidal.
Overall, Spinney makes for an articulate, honest and very likable subject. I Am Big Bird reminds you that sometimes life is best experienced with touch of Spinney’s childlike enthusiasm and curiosity.