By Emilio Frenk.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Natalie Morales, Austin Stowell, Bill Pullman, Chris Parnell, Alan Cumming and Elizabeth Shue.
Rating: Excellent.
Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who gained critical acclaim for the 2006 comedy hit “Little Miss Sunshine” are back with their third movie in their belt “Battle of the Sexes” and this is one of the best movies of this year.
Based on a true story, the movie centers in Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) a number 1 tennis player who in 1973 had one of the most memorable matches in the history of the sport against Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) a tennis player who used to be in his prime who was a constant gambler and hustler.
This is the story of how this sport changed through this historical matchup and the two different approaches of how both prepared for this matchup.
The reason why “Battle of the Sexes” works at all levels is because it´s a movie that went straight to the facts and when you deal with characters or an event that really took place that is paramount for a movie, regardless of the genre.
The screenplay written by Academy Award Winner Simon Beaufoy, who won it for “Slumdog Millionaire” was true and wrote with so much detail that from the minute the movie started to the end we liked both Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. You can tell by the result in screen that Beaufoy did tons of research in this two iconic figures.
The cinematography by Linus Sandgren, who this past Academy Awards for his work in “La La Land” recreated an atmosphere that you were emerged in the 70´s era.The looks of the film and how he played with the color and lighting was sharp and it´s one other element that made this film special.
The editing by Pamela Martin was very sharp, fast and it was really interesting how she played with the transitions in both the characters in the whole film.
Like in “Little Miss Sunshine” both Dayton and Faris´s timing in comedy and drama was precise and this movie played really well with both genres.
The way how the conflict of Bobby Riggs as a gambler was portrayed works at all levels and Steve Carell brought to life a unique character that if in that time social media portals like Instagram and Twitter would have existed, he would have many followers.
At the same time the way how Billie Jean King´s identity crisis was represented in this film works and besides seeing a talented and hardworking professional tennis player, we had the opportunity to see the insecurities that this character had back in the day where in that time America was even more conservative as it is today.
Seeing both Emma Stone and Steve Carell in this movie was a huge blessing and I would not be surprised if both actors score Academy Award Nominations in next year´s ceremony.
Dayton and Faris not only directed an incredible and visual experience, but both directed a movie with a lot of heart and it will move audiences regardless if they like tennis or not.
“Battle of the Sexes” is one of the year´s best films and I highly recommend it for the acting of both Stone and Carrel, the directing of Dayton and Faris and fabulous screenplay written by Simon Beaufoy.