Il combattente - Donnybrook

A tale of strife in a rural part of America, where an ex-marine does what he can only do to survive and care for his family, it parallels with the life of a crazed family of Meth dealers looking for a way out as well, with contentious and evil methods, it leads to a big free for all at Donnybrook, a last man standing contest, where the ex-marine see a opportunity to use his skills to get his family out of squalor and find some redemption in his soul, but it all comes with a price for everyone involved, this one folks is not easy to watch, but you take it in and realize that there is a message somewhere within this film.

This film was extremely graphic. It had a little bit of everything wrong with The United States. It had incest, child murder, nazi's, drugs, poverty, violence, robbery and crooked cops. They way it was put together was beautiful and brutal at the same time. I'm glad I finally decided to give this film a shot. Hats off to the writer/director. Definitely a film worth checking out. I highly recommend giving it a watch. 6 stars.

Donnybrook it is a very dark drama, and well worth seeing. Ex-Marine Bell has a wife who is trying to get off drugs and 2 kids (a boy & a girl). His plan to improve their lot in life is to enter the Donnybrook, a bare-knuckles free-for-all fight contest where the last man standing will walk away with a $100k prize. The acting is superb, particularly Margaret Qualley (daughter of Andie MacDowell), who plays the sister of Frank Grillo's violent drug dealer. The characters in this film are very poor and struggle with violence, drugs, crime, all the things that are often common in the poorer communities across America. The bulk of this film is Bell's journey from his home in a trailer park to the site of the contest, and it's not an easy or straightforward path that he travels. He gets to the donnybrook, but it's the last 15 minutes of the film.

It was indeed quiet in the Winter Garden Theatre when the credits rolled at TIFF. This is not a movie you cheer for. It's gorgeous and brutal and humble. You exhale when it's done, and you're thankful for your different less desperate way of life.

The acting is superb, especially the brave Margaret Qualley. This deserves to be seen

This film tells the story of two men who struggle to make ends meet. They turn to a big fight to earn a big prize.

The story is quite confusing to start with, as characters are not introduced. After figuring out who is who, it seems I can get into the story. But no. The pace is super slow, and the long slowly moving shots are just never ending. There is a shot where a young girl walk back and forth in a park for a minute. There is another shot of the boy walking up to a house to take a bicycle for a minute. These scenes are very out of place for a violent action film. In the end, I lost all interest in the film.