No No: A Dockumentary

Jeffrey Radice's 2014 documentary is about Dock Ellis, the baseball pitcher who threw a no-hitter in 1970 and later said he had done it under the influence of drugs. That story made his name; the documentary is really interested in what came after. After his career ended Ellis spent years counselling people with addictions, and that is the film's centre: behind a moment that became legend there was an illness with long consequences. The film also recounts the open stand Ellis took against racism in the seventies, appearing on the field in hair curlers and the reaction to it. The archive material and interviews are in balance. Who it's for: viewers who like sports documentaries and are interested in seventies America. Who it's not for: anyone with no knowledge of baseball, or avoiding the subject of drug addiction.