Two fairly acclaimed sports docs that are available on Showtime now. One received a theatrical release and a lot more buzz, but I found myself a little more captivated by “Glena.”
“No No: A Dockumentary”…This documentary currently has an astounding 100 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which kinda makes me want to pan it a little bit. It wouldn’t be in the top ten docs I’ve seen this year, and I’m not really sure what accounts for the leniency in grading.
Anyway, it’s about a pitcher from the 70’s who pitched a rare no-hitter, but did it while completely zoned-out on LSD which is what makes the story so notable. But the majority of the film moves away from that legendary game and covers more his career in baseball and rambles into other topics. I wish it had kept a tighter focus, and it’s probably at least 15 minutes too long. And even though the Civil Rights stories of this baseball era are interesting, a deeper examination into drug use by pro-athletes would have perhaps been more personally relevant to this particular athlete. Grade: C+
“Glena”…Follows a female MMA fighter as she tries to break out of the amateur ranks and go pro. It has a very limited, unthoughtful focus and a better doc might have at least mentioned the inner workings of MMA and their focus on certain “types” to promote and market (it doesn’t hurt that Glena is blonde and pretty), so I wish they’d at least brought up the racial politics. [And I do realize that it’s a little hypocritical of me to say that I wish this doc had more stuff in it while I was wishing the unwieldy “No No” had narrowed their focus a little.] Still, it’s awfully hard not to root for Glena, a very likable single mom who has to deal with custody disputes, doubters, break-ups, criticisms, etc. but is determined to follow her dreams and not get sucked down by life’s trials. Grade: B-