Tyson

Mike Tyson is in a reflective – even tearful – mood in this documentary made by his friend James Toback, in whose ‘Black and White’ the boxer appeared in 1999. You could describe the film, which marries archive footage with a new interview with Tyson, as a ghost-written autobiography expressed with a post-analysis tone –  a tone that may or may not be linked to the fact that Tyson spoke to Toback soon after he left rehab.

Tyson is the film’s sole voice and he talks freely through the good and bad times, from a criminal childhood in Brooklyn to the messy end of his career, via the death of his elderly trainer Cus D’Amato, his failed marriage to Robin Givens and his conviction for rape. He comes across as mellow and apologetic but reserves anger for the woman he was accused of raping (‘a wretched swine of a woman’) and Don King (‘a slimy, reptilian motherfucker’). Toback steers Tyson through every triumph and disaster you want to hear about, never pretending that the platform belongs to anyone but the man they used to call Iron Mike.