Conor McGregor: Notorious

The documentary follows Conor McGregor across four years: it begins with a fighter on benefits in Dublin who has walked out of a plumbing apprenticeship, and ends at the point where he holds belts in two UFC divisions and is the highest earning name in combat sport. Gavin Fitzgerald directs. The access is extraordinary. The camera moves with the team; the training camps, the dressing room, the moments before the weigh in and after the fight are recorded directly. This is not a documentary assembled afterwards. The idea at the centre is the self fulfilling claim. McGregor says out loud what will happen while he is still nobody, and the film sets those statements beside what followed. The limit is closeness. It was produced with McGregor's circle and there is no critical view; the defeat by Nate Diaz is in the narrative but the questioning stays on the surface. The personal side is the best part; his long standing partner Dee Devlin and his family are the only material that shows the man off stage. It broke box office records in Ireland and became one of the most watched domestic documentaries there. Who it is for: viewers who like combat sport and sports documentaries. Who it is not for: there is no critical distance, the narrative sits close to promotion, and there is little entry point without an interest in fighting.