By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Julien Faraut
Original language title: Les Sorcières de l'Orient
Country: france
Year: 2021
Running time: 100
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13845180/reference
Michael: “I’m not really an avid sports documentary viewer, but this fascinating slice of Olympic history intrigued me greatly, and I found the film utterly fascinating to watch. In the late 50’s the Japanese women’s volleyball team began a streak of wins both nationally and internationally, that ended up culminating with a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. The streak last something like 258 consecutive wins, or something absurd like that, and this visually striking film tells that tale of the Oriental witches and their demon coach. The film starts with recent footage of a handful of the women from the team gathering for a reunion dinner. Adorable, tiny, elderly Japanese women are eating and chatting while the camera focuses on them one by one and shows some footage of them during their prime athletic endeavors. The fact that there is so much gorgeous 16mm footage of these women training and competing makes for lots of great viewing, intercut with amusing animation, set to industrial music (the women’s team was sponsored by the factory that they all worked at — perhaps that explains the musical choice?) really makes for a compelling doc. Watching their coach, nicknamed the Demon, hurling volleyballs rapid fire at the team while they leap and roll to return these drives and be ready for the next one, may remind you of something sadistic, but it’s all part of the hours and hours of daily training that forged these women into an incredible unit. 4 cats