EL SEGUNDO HERALD September 21, 2017 Page 7
Entertainment
Check It Out Film Review
Battle of the Sexes is a Timely
Message on Misogyny
By Ryan Rojas for www.cinemacy.com
In 1973, 29-year-old women’s tennis champion
Billie Jean King was publicly challenged
to a match by former men’s tennis champion
and egocentric chauvinist, the 55-year-old
Bobby Riggs. What was on the line for this
playful, yet all but patronizing, match differed
for each athlete. For the self-obsessed showman,
Riggs looked to reaffirm not only his
own greatness but the unequivocal superiority
of male athletes over female athletes.
For King, however, the outcome of this
match was anything but light-hearted– she
was fighting on behalf of women everywhere
to gain the respect from male counterparts
not only in the sport of tennis, but in daily
life. The famous match, which was broadcast
around the world by ABC and to this day
remains one of the highest-watched sports
events of all time, is the subject of Battle
of the Sexes, directed by the filmmakers
of Little Miss Sunshine and starring Emma
Stone as the steely-focused King and Steve
Carell as the piggish Riggs.
Battle of the Sexes uses the tennis match
as a vehicle to tell a much larger story that
centers around King and her struggle for acceptance
and equality in the sport. Stone is
more than ready and game to slip into King’s
court shoes, exuding a strong inner confidence
in the film’s opening. Here, King, the reigning
champion of the official women’s league, is
met with the flippant sexism of being told
the women’s prize will be a smaller purse
than the men’s from league president Jack
Kramer (Bill Pullman). Not thinking twice,
she drops out to form her own tournament,
with hurt but unshaken confidence carrying
her onward. The film goes deeper into King’s
backstory when it’s revealed that she is doing
this as a closeted yet married woman at a
time when LGBTQ rights were significantly
less than they are today.
Coming off of last year’s Best Actress
Oscar win for La La Land, Emma Stone as
Billie Jean King is effortlessly good, covering
all spots on the emotional court that this
character demands. She plays the stone-faced
and determined competitor as much as the
insecure reluctant hero and everything in
between. Like a tennis player who knows
when to soften a backhand lob or directly
nail a line hit, Stone is emotionally rich,
pitting between moments of triumph and
defeats in self-acceptance.
Battle of the Sexes alternates with
Riggs’ backstory as he comes to terms with
being once a winner, but now a debilitated
gambler with trust issues. The filmmakers
develop Riggs into a man suffering from his
own insecurities and Steve Carell’s trademark
“lovable-in-spite-of-himself” character work
makes Riggs not your stereotypical “villain.”
The performances and story arc make Battle
of the Sexes a universally appealing film,
but it’s the lush and beautiful cinematography,
compositions and mood-building that
directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
have created that make this an aesthetically
strong and greatly packaged one. But what
else would you expect from the filmmakers
of Little Miss Sunshine who won audiences
over in that Sundance classic? The message
behind Sexes, like Sunshine, strives to strip
away facade and inaccuracy in order to
expose the human condition and a love of
people for who they really are.
Battle of the Sexes is rated PG-13 for
some sexual content and partial nudity. 121
minutes. In select theaters Friday. •
Men Without Women
By Haruki Murakami
Reviewed by Maggie Rank, Library
Intern, El Segundo Public Library
Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
is a collection of seven short stories all centered
around men who have somehow lost important
women in their lives. Men without
women is nothing new, but Murakami captures
the harsh reality of sadness and loneliness
in terms that are unexpectedly poetic and cozy.
Murakami is famous for infusing his prose
with magical realism and fantasy, but these
stories push up against the borders of the
surreal without becoming absurd. His prose
reads like an emotional smell rather than
solid memory. Each story recalls missed connections,
tragic losses, and a general inability
to connect or stay connected to anyone. Even
the male friendships in these stories tend to
center around missing or unattainable women.
A woman’s love (or the lack of it) is the empty
center around which life revolves.
Some readers may feel that these stories lack
an action-driven plot, but I think Murakami’s
style more than makes up for it. This collection
of short stories offer readers a quick way to
sample a new style of literature before diving
into Murakami’s longer novels. Those who
fall in love with his writing will start to notice
motifs that pop up in most of his books (jazz,
swimming, cats and earlobes, to name a few).
Noticing similarities in themes is part of the
excitement of each new Murakami book that
comes out.
The El Segundo Public Library offers access
to its collection of titles in a variety of
formats, including traditional hardback, e-books
and books on CD. To check out Men Without
Women, or any other title on your to-read list,
please visit the library to apply for your free
library card, or please contact the reference
staff for further assistance. •
Emma Stone and Steve Carell in Battle of the Sexes. Courtesy of 20th Century Fox. (For our interview with Emma Stone, Steve Carell
and more, visit www.cinemacy.com).
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Maggie Rank.
Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami.
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