"I'm Done Talking, Let's Play..."
Fresh from her Oscar win in 2017's best film so far in the form of Damien Chazelle's La La Land, Emma Stone leads Battle of the Sexes, the latest from Little Miss Sunshine and Ruby Sparks directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and a film which focuses on the titular infamous tennis match in 1973 between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs which ultimately lit the touchpaper for King's advocacy for feminism and LGBT rights within twentieth century America. With Steve Carell co-starring as Riggs and the likes of Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman and Bill Pullman all making an appearance, the husband and wife directorial pair's return is one of rousing success, a brilliantly acted docu-drama with a hell of a lot to say, and whilst the film sometimes doesn't quite succeed in cracking open effectively all the notions evident on display, Battle of the Sexes is admirable in its' attempt to raise the same questions which were raised forty four years ago but are unfortunately still increasingly evident even today.
With Stone continuing to prove why she is arguably the most in-demand talent within Hollywood at this moment in time with yet another brilliantly nuanced performance as Billie Jean King, the film's strongest narrative thread is undeniably the relationship between her character and Andrea Riseborough's stylist love interest, Marilyn, a partnership which not only holds the most substance between any of the leading cast in the movie, but thanks to effective dialogue and intensely invasive camera shots is so authentic in its' design, the movie could have been good enough simply focusing on this particular plot thread alone. With a grainy, stylised 1970's aesthetic and a jukebox soundtrack accompanying the story, Battle of the Sexes is undeniably a crowd-pleasing ace, and with a final act which although is undeniably inevitable in regards to its' outcome, still manages to be rousingly intense, Faris and Dayton's movie is ironically one of the more timely releases in a year rife with discussions regarding women's liberation and the effect of feminism. Long may it continue.
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