The Witches of the Orient

Having scrutinised the moves of tennis player John McEnroe in his documentary In the Realm of Perfection, French director Julien Faraut moves east to chart the rise of the world-beating Japanese women's volleyball team of the 1950s and 60s. Thanks to their almost supernatural abilities on court, the group were dubbed the "Witches of the Orient", although it was hard graft rather than mystic forces that brought about their success. Now in their 70s, the surviving women look back to when the team evolved from representing their Nichibo textile factory to becoming the national side, all under the steely instruction of coach Hirofumi Daimatsu. The Witches' exploits have been celebrated in various manga and cartoons, and Faraut blends vintage animated clips with archive footage of training sequences and matches to chart their progress to the 1964 Olympic finals in Tokyo. The director has an eye for arresting visuals as well as an ear for a good tune, but some of his artistic montages do needlessly drag out what is an otherwise fascinating story of sporting glory.