I went into this documentary as a tennis fan, I watch all the WTA (women's tennis association) events. I watched Osaka win her first, second and forth slam live. Despite me not being a fan of hers i went into this with an open mind and man it was disappointing.
It seems this documentary is here to sell Osaka as a product and not show her as a person. The heavy focus on the BLM protest, a whole chapter is dedicated to that. It got more attention than her tennis career. They didnt focus on her struggles within tennis. E.g the media hype wore her out for me, she was built up to the the next IT girl then after winning the AO in 2019 she fell off the map for a long while. That would be an interesting timeline to explore. What really happened with her and how she bounced back. Osaka struggles on clay and grass surfaces, only has hardcourt titles, the film doesn't explore those struggles. For tennis fans it brings nothing to the table.
It is painfully clear that the first two episodes were an after tought and the BLM episode was the real focus. I am referring to it as the BLM episode because really nothing else is explored. Osaka said she didn't want to follow anyone else's blueprint yet many atheletes, not in tennis, do the same for the movement. It is not really a risk when the media and millions of people agree. It is just came across as someone being edgy. She said she felt her black card was revoked when she chose to play for Japan, comes across like she did BLM to fit in with the black community. If they had shown other stuff she is doing, other areas where she has a new blue print then it would have been a different story. I digress. The episode is properly structured, narratively coherent and heartfelt (this is coming from someone who is very critical of the movement). The pacing is good too.
The first 2 eposides are just a bunch of random footage stiched together with voice overs. I doubt they planned to make this when she won the US Open for the first time, which fine, so the footage of put together is not coherent. You go from videos from TV networks, to a third party filming during intimate moments (Osaka looks uncomfortable most of the time) to her own cellphone footage. It all bounces around with no clear timeline established - one minute she is at fashion week and the next she's with a sister in a car, it is hard to understand when each of these happened. I am not even sure if those two scenes happened in the same episode or a different one, these scenes are so random and interchangeable.
Why i gave it 2 stars instead of zero is because of the quiet moments. There is a scene where Naomi is drinking champagne after fashion week and is talking about getting drunk, if she would get drunk from the alchohol. She smiled, it was so lovely and genuine. Those are the scenes needed in this documentary. Showing you Naomi is. They do not have enough footage of that and rely on voice overs which don't give anywhere near the same effect. The BLM episodes had very nice moments like that, her with her sister, the father narrating etc.
If you want to see extra footage of Naomi Osaka this is the product for you. Those who want an indepth look at tennis look elswhere. People who want a proper structured viewing or are just interested in BLM should just watch the last episode.
It seems this documentary is here to sell Osaka as a product and not show her as a person. The heavy focus on the BLM protest, a whole chapter is dedicated to that. It got more attention than her tennis career. They didnt focus on her struggles within tennis. E.g the media hype wore her out for me, she was built up to the the next IT girl then after winning the AO in 2019 she fell off the map for a long while. That would be an interesting timeline to explore. What really happened with her and how she bounced back. Osaka struggles on clay and grass surfaces, only has hardcourt titles, the film doesn't explore those struggles. For tennis fans it brings nothing to the table.
It is painfully clear that the first two episodes were an after tought and the BLM episode was the real focus. I am referring to it as the BLM episode because really nothing else is explored. Osaka said she didn't want to follow anyone else's blueprint yet many atheletes, not in tennis, do the same for the movement. It is not really a risk when the media and millions of people agree. It is just came across as someone being edgy. She said she felt her black card was revoked when she chose to play for Japan, comes across like she did BLM to fit in with the black community. If they had shown other stuff she is doing, other areas where she has a new blue print then it would have been a different story. I digress. The episode is properly structured, narratively coherent and heartfelt (this is coming from someone who is very critical of the movement). The pacing is good too.
The first 2 eposides are just a bunch of random footage stiched together with voice overs. I doubt they planned to make this when she won the US Open for the first time, which fine, so the footage of put together is not coherent. You go from videos from TV networks, to a third party filming during intimate moments (Osaka looks uncomfortable most of the time) to her own cellphone footage. It all bounces around with no clear timeline established - one minute she is at fashion week and the next she's with a sister in a car, it is hard to understand when each of these happened. I am not even sure if those two scenes happened in the same episode or a different one, these scenes are so random and interchangeable.
Why i gave it 2 stars instead of zero is because of the quiet moments. There is a scene where Naomi is drinking champagne after fashion week and is talking about getting drunk, if she would get drunk from the alchohol. She smiled, it was so lovely and genuine. Those are the scenes needed in this documentary. Showing you Naomi is. They do not have enough footage of that and rely on voice overs which don't give anywhere near the same effect. The BLM episodes had very nice moments like that, her with her sister, the father narrating etc.
If you want to see extra footage of Naomi Osaka this is the product for you. Those who want an indepth look at tennis look elswhere. People who want a proper structured viewing or are just interested in BLM should just watch the last episode.