"Winning Family" is not a movie, it is a motivation lesson

"Winning Family" is a film that tries to please everyone and also succeeds, as predicted by Will Smith Oscar's predictions about his role as Richard Williams, who thanks to a combination of positive audacity and modesty turned his daughters Venus and Serena into winning and groundbreaking tennis players

Avner Shavit

21/11/2021

Sunday, 21 November 2021, 00:05 Updated: 00:06

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"Winning Family" Trailer (Tulip Media)

Star rating for movies - 3 stars (Photo: image processing,.)

It is said that one bird in the hand is better than two on the tree, but Richard Williams insisted that he could catch both - and he was right.

Richard is the father of Venus and Serena Williams. When someone happened to be impressed by just one of them in her youth and told him "you have the next Michael Jordan in your hand", the happy father corrected him - "I have both". Even in this case, he was right. Venus and Serena Williams have become tennis legends, groundbreaking black tennis players and generally two of the greatest female athletes in history. Any superlative will be in place.

How did it happen? Thanks to the faith, tenacity and perseverance of the father. At least according to the film "Winning Family" which was released this weekend in Israel, and at the same time for streaming on HBO (a service that is not available in Israel). Originally, this biographical drama was called "King Richard". The local distributors may have feared that the audience would think it was a drama about the royal family, and gave it a different Hebrew name, and unfortunately also misleading.

This is not a story about the Williams family, far from it.

The grandparents, the uncle and aunt, the mother and even the sisters Williams themselves - are all marginalized here.

Richard, played by Will Smith, is the only human focal point and pillar of the drama.

There is hardly a single moment here that you do not see in the picture.

But even more than that it's a story about the Williams family or the father of the family, it's also a story about race in American society.

Tennis is also known as the "white sport".

Venus and Serena, on the other hand, were black, and the film highlights how every time they stepped on the green grass, they encountered eyebrow-raising or contempt.

Even when the whites sought to compliment them or Richard, they did so in a patronizing manner, which the proud father refused to contain.

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The girls are huge.

Will Smith at the "Winning Family" Center (Photo: Tulip Media)

Venus and Serena grew up in the 1980s in Compton, a city in California where about a third of the population is black, and a socio-economically challenging place - especially at the time. Richard came to her from Louisiana, also not a simple place. In one of the film's climactic moments, he tells his daughters about childhood trauma: Lots got beaten up by him, only to accidentally touch a white man, something he was not allowed to do in those years.

The film always tells, almost never shows. In another significant moment, Richard watches a news report revealing a videotape documenting how white cops beat Rodney King, and we see it from a distance and for only a few seconds. "Winning Family" touches the scorched earth but takes care to create a sterile environment. Compton's representation is also restrained, probably given what happened in the area in those years, and is careful not to set fire or hit this tennis film with too severe violence.

"Winning Family" is a product that tries to appeal to everyone and please everyone - and probably succeeds, because the reviews are excellent and the Oscar predictions are optimistic.

It touches on social issues, so it can be seen as a "serious" and "important" film, but does so lightly.

It deals with the history of racism in the United States, but also tells a story with the moral that Americans who work hard enough can get out of the cycle of poverty and oppression.

He displays female empowerment and female victory, but does so from a man's point of view, so that those who complain about "progressive trolls" will not be able to complain this time.

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The Cool Prince of Compton.

From "Winning Family" (Photo: Tulip Media)

"Winning Family" is ostensibly a niche film, set in a specific area of ​​the United States and engaging in elitist sports, but over time turns out to be a universal work, capable of engaging different audiences around the world. The script here is built on a sequence of initiation ceremonies and inspirational speeches, in which the stubborn father beats his childhood teachings, which have nothing to do with tennis. In one of the scenes, for example, he forces them to watch "Cinderella" until they understand the message of the animated classic - it is imperative to maintain humility.

Modesty, respect for family and teachers, hard work and self-belief - these are the values ​​that Richard passes on to his apprentices, in a long line of challenges and sermons. His remarks could be used in the future by tennis teachers or other parents of novice athletes, but could equally well star in sermons by priests or in officer speeches in the Golan. More than a movie, "A Winning Family" is a motivational lesson.

Another actor might have made Richard an obsessive and unpleasant character.

Will Smith neutralizes this danger and makes the father a person who is hard not to get carried away with.

No wonder he is mentioned as a leading candidate in the Oscar race - a figurine that has so far eluded the veteran actor.

Not just for tennis fans.

From "Winning Family" (Photo: Film Forum)

Smith carries the film on his back, but in the end, what gives the film its sting is precisely everything around it - the fashion of the eighties and of the tennis world;

The period soundtrack, which includes for example the "Deadly Summer" by Bannharma;

The acting performances of Sanya Sydney as Venus Williams and Demi Singleton as Serena, who manage to leave a mark despite their meager screenwriting volume, and illustrate through facial expressions what is going on in their minds;

And the tennis scenes, from which director Rinaldo Marcus Green brings out the best.

By the way, fair disclosure: I love any kind of sport, except tennis.

There are no possible spoilers about "Winning Family", as it is based on things that really happened.

Zack Beilin's script ends just before the real rise of the Williams sisters, when they and not their father become the protagonists of the story.

This is the kind of movie where the most interesting information is presented to us through the subtitles, and the first slide does not tell about the victories of the tennis players in the Grand Slam tournaments.

As befits such a Hollywood film, she tells of the groundbreaking contract they signed with Reebok.

This is how it is in Hollywood, this is how it is in America: humility, work ethic and optimism are important values, but in the end there is one value that stands above all.

Of money.

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• Will Smith

• Venus Williams

• Serena Williams