Tyson

More4 showed the James Toback film Tyson (2008) on Tuesday evening. The film is an example of amazing access to an individual who's career has been at incredible highs and lows over the last two decades. Using original interviews with Mike Tyson, and archive footage of fights and news reports, Toback examines these highs and lows with the first hand account.

At times the audience can sympathise with Tyson as he breaks down in tears whilst recollecting time spent with his coach and mentor Cus D'Amato. However as fame and fortune takes hold of one of the worlds greatest boxers his career takes a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. Toback shows the full extent of Tyson's outburst against a member of the audience at the weigh in before 2002's heavy weight fight with Lennox Lewis. Tyson's homophobic and racist barrage is it seems born out of three years spent in jail, however it also shows that as a man he has difficulty with control and aggression whilst outside of the ropes.

The film serves as a brilliant insight into a man who many believe never fulfilled anywhere near the true summit of his potential. Towards the end, it is clear that Tyson only took on bouts as a way of paying the bills, a fact that he himself seems deeply ashamed by.

Toback uses some interesting stylistic devices concerning the interview. One thing I thought worked very well was the delayed and overlapped audio of Tyson speaking. The build up of multiple voices, delayed and layer behind the dominant soundtrack in my mind brought about questions of mental health. The use of partitioned/windowed shots also brought some fantastic closeup shots humanising such an aggressive and hardcore personality