- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Jul 16, 2021
Critic Reviews
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While she has been personable in her previous press engagements, in the docuseries that bears her name, she is raw. ... It’s an intimate and voluntary peek inside of her brain—one that puts her anxieties and fears on display instead of running from them.
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At times listening to Osaka grapple with her doubts and insecurities can be uncomfortable and intrusive, but that's revealing in its own way. Indeed, it's possible to envy all that she has and still feel sympathy for the sacrifices made in order to have it -- which, in terms of the points that "Naomi Osaka" intends to get across, is pretty much game, set and match.
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It’s an engrossing blend of contradictions – and Bradley’s calm and sensation-free film makes for an absorbing appetite-whetter ahead of Osaka’s return to centre court at the Olympics.
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It is more artistic and interior, and well worth watching in its entirety. At first, I thought it was slight, that it offered a good impression of depth but did not say very much. Now, I think it says more than it appears to. It is cleverly assembled, and gorgeously filmed, with a magnetic score by Devonté Hynes and Theodosia Roussos.
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The docuseries could be called a portrait, its approach less informational than artistic. At the same time, out of its artfully quilted bits and pieces, its searching closeups and surrounding details, it leaves you feeling that you have come to know its subject, rather than merely know about her.
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We’re lucky that we get to watch this woman on the court, but this interesting, insightful, and inspiring documentary also shows how lucky we are to get to know her in this way.
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The resulting work is a poetic, nimble and poignant portrait of young adulthood.
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Bradley takes pains to define Osaka on her own terms outside the longest shadow in women’s tennis. ... Osaka’s constant acknowledgments of her own fallibility feel new, a change from the hypermanaged images and aggro intensity that have characterized some of the major tennis stars of the past.
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Jul 13, 2021A refreshingly quiet and intimate sports documentary, Naomi Osaka peels back the developing layers of the cultural phenomenon who became a household name in the United States after beating her idol Serena Williams at the 2018 U.S. Open.
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Based on its first episode, Naomi Osaka is more ambitious [than many sports documentaries], taking a risk by portraying an extremely famous person with an exploratory and spontaneous approach. Flashbacks and on-camera interviews don’t come off as interjections or extras, but choruses singing essential notes of the crescendoing music Bradley has created in time with Osaka.
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An informative, rewarding portrait that resists hagiography in earnestly presenting a young woman in progress.
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In three vaguely indistinguishable episodes, the Netflix docuseries “Naomi Osaka” offers a small window into the young champion’s world.
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The narrative of “Naomi Osaka” comes in fits and starts, using previously aired interviews to fill gaps and glossing over transitions between coaches, brands and sponsorships without much further probing. Osaka’s personality shines through, but not much else. ... Not quite a tell-all, not quite an impressionistic portrait, “Naomi Osaka” floats somewhere in between with a cautious curiosity that does, at least, reflect its namesake.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 2 out of 7
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Mixed: 0 out of 7
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Negative: 5 out of 7
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Sep 18, 2021
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Sep 8, 2021Series? This barely rates a 15 minute interview on YouTube. Get real. I get it, she's good at tennis, but c'mon!