Here's why you should watch 'King Richard'
Richard Williams is not an ordinary man. He is a man of profound belief, a prophet of his own making, and if the new biopic based on his life is to be believed, he manifested his daughters, the legendary tennis stars, Venus and Serena Williams, into being. Indeed, he wrote a 78-page plan detailing their entire careers while they were still in the womb. Nearly all his hopes for them came true (or so the film tells us in the end credits).
Executive-produced by Venus and Serena, King Richard is a tribute to their father’s inexhaustible belief in them, without which, they’ve declared, they would never have become who they are today. Transcending the genres of the biopic and the sports film, director Reinaldo Marcus Green instead frames King Richard as an intimate family drama. What makes it stand out is how brilliantly he conveys the tender care, exasperation and joy of a family struggling to make ends meet, while simultaneously striving for greatness. It is at once universal and particular. The film is a testament to the power of family; to their unbreakable love which lifted them up so high that they made history.
An almost unrecognisable Will Smith, with a grizzled beard and a Louisiana drawl, is Richard, a tennis coach to his daughters by day, a security guard who works gruelling shifts by night, and a full-time hustler. He is determined to equip his five daughters with the education that can take them out of their hometown, Compton, to wherever they desire to go. He barks out spelling drills, geography lessons and moral rules all in one; hard work is a given — especially for his tennis stars, Venus and Serena. Richard runs across town collecting cast-away tennis balls from the bins of country clubs, piling them into his own beaten-up shopping trolley. Come rain or shine, the sisters train tirelessly on the cracked terrain of Compton’s dilapidated public tennis courts, where the dangers of the neighbourhood frequently seep through the fences. For Richard, tennis is both a financial game and a way to penetrate an almost exclusively white sport, closed off neatly within the pristine courts of country clubs. It all began when Richard saw Romanian player Virginia Ruzici on TV, heard about how much she made, and decided to retrain his family in the “champion-raising business”.
As it's depicted, the Williams sisters’ have no choice but to go along with the will of their doggedly determined father, to the extent that one begins to wonder if Richard’s dream for them is as much a dream for himself. The film deftly threads together intergenerational histories of racial trauma into one intertwining web — from Richard’s accounts of his brutal encounters with the Ku Klux Klan and the police, to the alienation felt by Venus and Serena being the only Black girls on the court. Indeed, we see the after-effects of Richard’s own trauma passed down to his children in the form of his tough parenting. He declares: "No one has ever had any respect for Richard Williams, but they’re going to respect you." His determination is rooted in defiance of a system that has tried to keep him down. In a heightened moment when their neighbour calls the police on the Williams parents for being too hard on their kids, both Richard and his wife, Brandi (Aujanue Ellis, the film’s shining star) dare the police to challenge their parenting, saying how their toughness is a necessity, as "running the streets" is simply not an option. Here, Green shines a light on how the often-ridiculed controlling parent of colour, or ‘tiger mom’ phenomenon, can be bred out of a need for survival; how the traits that can seem so harsh are defence mechanisms, a survival logic which requires dedication and pragmatism. However, what makes the Williams family shine is the way in which their pragmatism is always intertwined with dreaming. Believing in the extraordinary is not mutually exclusive with survival.
Will Smith’s Oscar-contending performance brings to life a more ambiguous protagonist than we expect to see in what might be read as a formulaic tale of a Black family attaining their American Dream. Richard Williams is torn between his determination for Serena and Venus to become the "best tennis players in the world" and his constant reminder, both to his daughters and himself, that all he wants is for them to "have fun", repeating the line like a mantra at every match. He vacillates between confidence and insecurity, between bravado and fear. On the one hand, Richard is completely certain that his daughters are winners; he warns a coach who expresses disbelief, joking, "It’s like asking someone to believe you have the next two Mozarts living in your house," as Richard retorts, "No, I have the next Serena and Venus Williams under the same roof." Will Smith is at his best when he reveals the fear seeping through the cracks of Richard’s tough exterior, exposing how fear ultimately underpins his patriarchal control: fear of being disrespected, fear of failing, fear of being just another fool with a dream. He is not a perfect man, but he is not just the controlling father that the media makes him out to be, either. He is rather a man struggling with an inner turmoil, with layers to his contradictions and a real tenderness to his family.
Always a controversial figure, Richard built a reputation for himself as a self-promoter, being outspoken to interviewers, running the show and calling the shots. Yet, what makes Smith's performance stand out is how he can be both pathologically self-absorbed, while also exuding endless amounts of love to his family. Zach Baylin’s nuanced script unveils the facets of Richard’s monomania; he offers both pressure and protection, guarding his daughters' self-confidence while pushing them to achieve their potential.
As brilliant as Will Smith is, Aunjanue Ellis matches his performance as Brandi, exuding a strong, quiet power. Like Richard, Brandi is a former athlete, who is just as invested in Venus and Serena’s future. In public, Brandi lets Richard call the shots, but when the cameras are off, in the movie’s most affecting scene, she reminds him with equal amounts of rage and love that the Williams project is a family effort and, unlike him, she doesn’t need credit for her work.
Some might argue that King Richard takes the story away from the two incredible athletes he raised, but Green makes sure we never lose focus on the two stars and their game, ending the film with a gripping tennis match with Venus sharply in focus. Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton play Venus and Serena respectively and they radiate the sweet playfulness and affection of real sisters. Although it was Richard who taught them the game, their love for the sport transcends his influence.
Warmth pervades every corner of the film, in both the golden glow of Robert Elswit’s cinematography and the love that nests between the lines of Baylin’s script. The film bears all the marks of a well-told story, full of depth and sympathy. What’s even better is watching it with hindsight, realising that everything we saw came true.
'King Richard' lands in UK cinemas from 19 November.
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