The previous publicity caused a lot of misunderstandings for this movie...and it became a "excellent showdown" in sports biographies such as "Rush" in the preconceived notion... It's not that "Rush" is bad, it's very personal. Like "Rush". It just means that the two films are of completely different genres, with completely different angles. They cannot be compared, let alone accuse the film of "should have been made like "Rush"." "Borg/McEnroe" is not a sports biography, not from beginning to end, at least not a sports biography that most viewers understand.
Janus's famous work is the documentary "Amadeiro" that won the Cannes Film Critics Week Award. It tells the story of a group of young Danish people fighting in the Middle East. For a director from such a movie background, you can hardly imagine that he cares about how exciting the sports game is, how the two played against each other, how tortuous the story is, and portraying the success of two Hollywood superstars. Like the young soldiers in the scenes of "Amadero", Janus always focuses on "them", "people", and the personality and psychology of the individual. He used the fragments of the lives of the two people before and during the game to build up the two roles during this specific period of time, just like the daily chores in "Amadeiro". The boys are the same-if such a movie is a general sports biography, it is obviously not enough to describe the two people in this particular time and environment. Even if it incorporates childhood scenes, the purpose is not to tell the growth of athletes in terms of competition (hard training, rebellion, transformation, success, blahblah. Including a large part of Borg’s teenage slap shots and tantrums, It is not the purpose), but mainly to explain how the two psychological and personal characteristics are developed.
Therefore, it is a film describing human psychology. In the words of director Janus and starring Sverrir, "Borg/McEnroe" is a "psychological thriller". The film has always been permeated with a depressive and even poetic psychological atmosphere, Borg and Mai Kenro's first two encounters outside the arena-press conference, locker room, Borg's silent coldness and McEnroe's obsessive gaze-were filled with an uncomfortable and strange atmosphere. The first two Acts, which were cast aside by English-language media critics as "dull", are the best carriers of this atmosphere. In the parallel lines between the two, although they did not meet, the similarities in their bad mental states (and their almost pathological...fascination?) can be seen. No one in the film is happy. Janus does not shy away from showing a pair of opponents full of anxiety and fear (really two giant babies, TT, one asks his girlfriend to pack his backpack and headlessly against the coach, and the other from Tiantian Nightclub. Work, and always call to find dad... This angle of description of the athlete is even... accurate to some extent? XD), a jealous coach who is psychologically tortured by the world’s number one superstar boyfriend Girlfriend at a loss... For me, the only bright moment in the film is the few minutes when Borg lied and chatted with the barkeeper who couldn't speak the language. It was the few minutes when he was not a "tennis superstar". I once read a bad review saying "This film is for athletes who are narcissistic and masochistic." At this time, I... I wanted to quote McEnroe again: "you don't know wtf it takes to play tennis". For commentators, it takes only a few seconds to evaluate the lives of athletes + your fingers. There may be only a few people who see your comments, and your life will continue normally. But they—the tennis superstars of that era—have caught the eyes of the world in every move. Talent and year after year of hard training have earned them one of the best rankings in the world. When they are in this position, fans, media, national expectations, sponsors, etc., have all become indispensable in their lives. The part to avoid. The innocent kid who played tennis against the garage door and dreamed of a world champion no longer exists. During the game, I always listen to the coach’s "play the ball one point at a time", but I have never thought that I have reached such a height, and one day I have to go downhill, lose, or lose control. That’s impossible. . Such a stressful sport is no longer pure, no one can enjoy such a life, and no one is a saint. After all, human beings are psychologically fragile animals. This is also the most fascinating thing about these two roles: they are not Hollywood star players-Borg is not an all-around superman, an iceberg gentleman sought after by the world, and McEnroe is not the one-sided love in the eyes of the public in the media. Bad boy who loses his temper. They are real people, lonely people with a bad mental state, experiencing the stress crisis that real humans will experience. At this level, the film has gone beyond the scope of tennis, and everyone who has experienced stress in life and work can empathize. Anger leads two people to different paths, and success also makes them suffer physically and mentally. So at the end, the two chatted speculatively at the airport-Borg and McEnroe were able to cultivate a friendship that lasts to this day, not because they often meet on the field and are friends and foes (these Hollywood sports biopics want to feed you Things), but because of their similar personalities and experiences, and similar psychological conditions. Only people who have had similar experiences in this world can understand each other so deeply. For commentators, it takes only a few seconds to evaluate the lives of athletes + your fingers. There may be only a few people who see your comments, and your life will continue normally. But they—the tennis superstars of that era—have caught the eyes of the world in every move. Talent and year after year of hard training have earned them one of the best rankings in the world. When they are in this position, fans, media, national expectations, sponsors, etc., have all become indispensable in their lives. The part to avoid. The innocent kid who played tennis against the garage door and dreamed of a world champion no longer exists. During the game, I always listen to the coach’s "play the ball one point at a time", but I have never thought that I have reached such a height, and one day I have to go downhill, lose, or lose control. That’s impossible. . Such a stressful sport is no longer pure, no one can enjoy such a life, and no one is a saint. After all, human beings are psychologically fragile animals. This is also the most fascinating thing about these two roles: they are not Hollywood star players-Borg is not an all-around superman, an iceberg gentleman sought after by the world, and McEnroe is not the one-sided love in the eyes of the public in the media. Bad boy who loses his temper. They are real people, lonely people with a bad mental state, experiencing the stress crisis that real humans will experience. At this level, the film has gone beyond the scope of tennis, and everyone who has experienced stress in life and work can empathize. Anger leads two people to different paths, and success also makes them suffer physically and mentally. So at the end, the two chatted speculatively at the airport-Borg and McEnroe were able to cultivate a friendship that lasts to this day, not because they often meet on the field and are friends and foes (these Hollywood sports biopics want to feed you Things), but because of their similar personalities and experiences, and similar psychological conditions. Only people who have had similar experiences in this world can understand each other so deeply. For commentators, it takes only a few seconds to evaluate the lives of athletes + your fingers. There may be only a few people who see your comments, and your life will continue normally. But they—the tennis superstars of that era—have caught the eyes of the world in every move. Talent and year after year of hard training have earned them one of the best rankings in the world. When they are in this position, fans, media, national expectations, sponsors, etc., have all become indispensable in their lives. The part to avoid. The innocent kid who played tennis against the garage door and dreamed of a world champion no longer exists. During the game, I always listen to the coach’s "play the ball one point at a time", but I have never thought that I have reached such a height, and one day I have to go downhill, lose, or lose control. That’s impossible. . Such a stressful sport is no longer pure, no one can enjoy such a life, and no one is a saint. After all, human beings are psychologically fragile animals. This is also the most fascinating thing about these two roles: they are not Hollywood star players-Borg is not an all-around superman, an iceberg gentleman sought after by the world, and McEnroe is not the one-sided love in the eyes of the public in the media. Bad boy who loses his temper. They are real people, lonely people with a bad mental state, experiencing the stress crisis that real humans will experience. At this level, the film has gone beyond the scope of tennis, and everyone who has experienced stress in life and work can empathize. Anger leads two people to different paths, and success also makes them suffer physically and mentally. So at the end two people are The airport chatted speculatively-Borg and McEnroe were able to cultivate a friendship that lasts to this day, not because they often meet on the field and are friends and foes (something these Hollywood sports biopics want to feed you), but Because of their similar personalities and experiences, similar psychological conditions. Only people who have had similar experiences in this world can understand each other so deeply.
The performances of the two leading actors were outstanding. Sverrir Gudnason’s performance is very low-key, but the silent presentation of anxiety is very accurate; Shia LaBeouf made up for it when the script was seriously underwritten. It can be seen that he has invested in the true feelings, and it is hard to imagine what kind of spirit he received during the filming. Torture, because McEnroe suffered a lot of misunderstandings and media oppression, he himself experienced. The conversation with Fleming and the performance after the finals are really heartbreaking... Stellan Skarsgård's performance is also impressive. He put Rabe's high hopes for Borg and his jealous feelings to be very real, said To be honest, TT is quite resonant. The finals were also well restored, with an immersive sense of the scene, impressive sound effects of the scoreboard and scoring, and the scheduling was also great. Sverrir looks like a Borg walking with his chest, terrible!
The fly in the ointment: The movie was invested by Scandinavia. After setting the national treasure Borg as the main protagonist, the excavation of McEnroe was unfortunately not enough, especially the planning and use of anger, and self-interest. Tracing to the origin of the doctrine, I feel that McEnroe’s play would be better in another twenty minutes. The script is a bit flawed (such as the Borg poster at Wheat Kenro's house... *edit: Thanks for the comment*), but the beginning is "adapted from a true story", not a "completely true record". Some dramatic treatments can also be understood.
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