Punch

Despite the topless female boxing (which was tough to watch, not sexy - sorry!), this might be more of a women's film than a boy flick. I think it is about people progressing on the path to healthy and happiness. It's a Canadian movie (defnitely not Hollywood!), so no-one achieves nirvana by the end of this interesting 90-minute ride.

The acting is stand-out. The writing is crisp. And in a dark way, it is funny.

I like this movie. And it is safe to take your boyfrined, because there is indeed the topless boxing.

First of all then, my proper mark out of 10 here should be 6.5. I think that a 7 would be too generous for a film which, in the main, is very good indeed. I am not plot spoiling here by saying that the film contains unnecessary female topless boxing. In all honesty, the director could have chosen something completely different to link his characters. But then I believe that he has openly admitted that the audience can make their own mind up as to if the boxing is just in there to titillate the majority of the male contingent of those watching. This, in itself, is basically admitting that that is just the reason why it's there. However, if I were a female spectator, I would feel somewhat uncomfortable. This is unfortunate really because, in the main, the bulk of the story is more one that would appeal to the female movie watcher. I think that what I am trying to say here is that I have marked the film down purely because of the inclusion of the boxing.

It is true that the DVD box and its description are a little deceiving. This is a film far more involved in dealing with relationships. The oh so very close relationship between father and daughter, between the father and his new partner (and how the daughter copes with it), and then the relationship between the new partner and her sister. The box clearly depicts the daughter (Sonja Bennett) as a boxer....well, she isn't. Clearly unstable and ready for fight maybe.....but not a boxer.

I believe that Sonja Bennett received awards in her homeland of Canada for her acting in this movie but I really can't say that she was at all brilliant. Her maniacal display of tap dancing was more funny than anything else. However, I feel that the acting awards here should go to the father (Michael Riley). He was outstanding, and his monologue story about his first meeting with his now deceased wife was so so heart wrenching and beautifully done.

I have to admit that when I read that Sonja Bennett is, in actual fact, the daughter of the director Guy Bennett, i felt just a little uncomfortable by the fact that there are two scenes of nudity involving his daughter, one of which leaves nothing to the imagination. It therefore made me watch the scenes with the directors audio commentary to see what he had to say about them. Happily, he did say that he wasn't in the room when these scenes were shot.

So to conclude.......it is a shame to say that this very good movie could so much have been a great movie. Some viewers should not be left feeling uncomfortable about what is, in essence, a simple tale of relationships. Please give it a watch.

perhaps not at it's finest, but this is what having a film industry based on government grants and corporate sponsorship will get you. This is not a movie for the masses, but it is very representative of Canadian cinema, odd, uncompromising to a fault and a little too tidy. I agree with Jay Alexander review where he faults the film being too clean looking, the same subject in the hands of a Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino would look much different. Looks like it was shot of digital video, but I'm not sure. At the same time this movie is unflinchingly ugly, yes it has topless boxing, but some of the women you really wish would put their shirts back on (and if you saw the film, you know who I'm talking about). However, this is something you would NEVER see in a Hollywood film, an ugly female in a positive role? fugetaboutit. You will get plenty of ugly fat men baring it all, but never women. For this I applaud the filmmakers for their boldness, although I found it very hard to watch. I also found some of the boxing scenes verging on "Rocky" territory, which hurts the presentation.

The subject matter is intriguing as well and rarely explored, that is female violence against females, but not in a cutesy "cat-fight" hair pulling way, this is all out pounding the sh*t out of each other. I remember seeing a documentary about young women these days how there is almost as many cases of female bullying and gang violence as there is male, but we don't hear about it as much. As we break down barriers between the sexes, these are some of the results.

Much of the dialogue is odd, and as one reviewer noted very "Hal Hartley" like, although with a Canadian spin. How many movies would you see a scene of a beautiful and well toned female pump starting a lawn mower yelling "I think the alternator's fucked" as father looks on? There are lots of scenes like this, and when they work, they work wonderfully, but when they don't they fall pretty flat. The acting is very good, although the males are portrayed as either wimpy or complete *ssholes. Meredith McGeachie does a convincing job as the lesbian boxing champion that nobody can beat, her boxing moves looked real and not like a female trying to pretend to fight like a man (as Sonja Bennett does). And is it me or does she look strikingly similar to Jerri from Survivor a few years back? Overall an interesting yet flawed film, and oh so Canadian, representing what many see as the horrible state of Canadian cinema, for others a viable alternative to Hollywood pablum.

Punch is a risky Canadian drama that explores an emotionally incestuous relationship between a father and daughter. It also introduces us to the world of Topless Female Boxers, but more about that later.

Newcomer Sonya Bennett is the teenaged Ariel, a rebellious young girl being raised by her single parent father (Michael Riley). When he brings home a woman he is dating Ariel feels betrayed and punches the woman in the face, giving her a black eye. Enter the aforementioned Topless Female Boxer (Meredith McGeachie). She is the tough, lesbian sister of the wronged women, and comes to extract an apology from Ariel and her father.

It all sounds very `Jerry Springer,' and to a degree it is - the topless boxing angle is pure titillation - but there is some substance here. Director and screenwriter Guy Bennett introduces many interesting human drama elements to Ariel's coming-of-age story, but frustratingly fails to fully explore any of them. He hints at things that are daring and unusual, but then backs away from the difficult material. At its core Punch delves into the pain of finding the right emotional distance between yourself and those whom you love, but the message is muddied by too many plot twists. The topless boxing is very, uh. visual and will probably put some bums in the seats but unnecessarily clogs up the story.

Sonya Bennett sizzles as the audacious daughter, while Riley subtly conveys the turmoil the father feels as a respectable man who realizes that his relationship with his daughter is tainted.

This is Guy Bennett's first film and there are enough indications in this movie of someone who really knows how to direct actors and is willing to take interesting risks as a screenwriter to make lead one to think that while Punch isn't quite there, it'll be interesting to see what this guy will do next.

It's easy to over-look the real issues in the film Punch when it contains such outrageous plot element as female topless boxing, but that would be a mistake. The film is more about the relationship between father and daughter, about dealing with loss, anger, and reclaiming one's emotional self.

The script is well-written and the performances are real. There is a real risk of it turning into melodrama but director Guy Bennett does a good job preventing that by keeping the characters and situations real.

The film deals with many complex issues but does not ruin it by trying to provide us with answers to everything but simply presents them and leaving the rest to the audience. That takes guts... as it does when one makes a film with female topless boxing and wishes to be taken seriously.