French director Julien Faraut is no stranger to sports documentaries. His breakthrough 2018 film, John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection announced his arrival as a creative tour de force. While The Witches of the Orient lacks the big-name factor of his previous film, it is still a thrilling demonstration of the auteur’s abilities. The eponymous “Witches of the Orient” were a dominant Japanese all-female volleyball squad in the early 1960s.
Faraut and his editor Andrei Bogdanov use archival materials to great effect here, to demonstrate the Witches' true prevalence during 1960-1964. Newsreel footage and agonizing training montages pepper the film, as it details Nichibo Kaizuka’s ascent from a mere textile factory team to a conquering force under the leadership of authoritarian coach Hirofumi Daimatsu. The team would excel in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, earning them the sobriquet “Oriental Witches.” An anime TV show/movie series Attack No. 1 was created to dramatize the Olympic triumph.
Faraut does well to demonstrate the technical brilliance of the players, interspersing countless scenes of them training on the court. The team won a staggering 258 games in a row, yet the Tokyo finals against The Soviet Union are a compelling watch nonetheless. Faraut also treats us to interviews with the surviving team members, who gather to reminisce about their achievements. Sports fans may delight in what Faraut serves up here.