The Fighter
A pugilist director, a town full of epithets, a family in dire recession, an erstwhile legend current crackhead skank brother, a bottle-blonde mom, a bar-tending squeeze, an armada of big-haired low life sisters, an unforgiving sport, a brush with history and a shot at the WBC title. For a plot this thick the style chosen is a faux-docu style. The output is refreshing because it is welcome departure from the ultra-mo cam shots used to dramatize the sport of boxing.
Boxing is about strategy, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent, about the choices you make in split seconds, it is about the performance and the play and the delivery of the plan.
Boxing as a sport is very well captured by films for many reasons - it is spectacle played out on a stage. It represents rage and instinct. It is primal (2 barechested men in shorts punching away mindlessly). A sport like boxing needs the heroes and the nutters.
This film taps into the way the business of sport works. They are designed to proclaim the winner and dismiss the loser within a space of few minutes. It is a self sustaining production line of heroes and villains, achievement and controversy. 'The Fighter' is as much about hunger and fear as much is about clouded emotions. Boxing epitomises the one on one contest because it is fiercely unforgiving. A fight packs in a lifetime within a frame of minutes. The mother, the famous half brother, conservative thinking vs. modern MTV thinking, the plot is dense with nuggets and incidents that unravel the hidden layers within an athletes mind.
The real life story plot explores the crooked circles that fighters run through and the limited shots at glory they have. The possibility of emotional trauma and breakdown being a bigger challenge than the merciless opponent in the ring.
The plot thickens with some sparkling performances and some amazing characterization The beauty of the film is in the chaos that surrounds the athlete more than the triumph of the world champion. The film is based on grit and resolve and the small town's ability to hoist its stars. If you are looking for a film that makes you want to kick the bugs that slows your instinct and want to reboot you into fighting fitness... this is the bell. Round 1.
Remember "you cant be me"
Boxing is about strategy, knowing yourself and knowing your opponent, about the choices you make in split seconds, it is about the performance and the play and the delivery of the plan.
Boxing as a sport is very well captured by films for many reasons - it is spectacle played out on a stage. It represents rage and instinct. It is primal (2 barechested men in shorts punching away mindlessly). A sport like boxing needs the heroes and the nutters.
This film taps into the way the business of sport works. They are designed to proclaim the winner and dismiss the loser within a space of few minutes. It is a self sustaining production line of heroes and villains, achievement and controversy. 'The Fighter' is as much about hunger and fear as much is about clouded emotions. Boxing epitomises the one on one contest because it is fiercely unforgiving. A fight packs in a lifetime within a frame of minutes. The mother, the famous half brother, conservative thinking vs. modern MTV thinking, the plot is dense with nuggets and incidents that unravel the hidden layers within an athletes mind.
The real life story plot explores the crooked circles that fighters run through and the limited shots at glory they have. The possibility of emotional trauma and breakdown being a bigger challenge than the merciless opponent in the ring.
The plot thickens with some sparkling performances and some amazing characterization The beauty of the film is in the chaos that surrounds the athlete more than the triumph of the world champion. The film is based on grit and resolve and the small town's ability to hoist its stars. If you are looking for a film that makes you want to kick the bugs that slows your instinct and want to reboot you into fighting fitness... this is the bell. Round 1.
Remember "you cant be me"
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