Girlfight

"Girlfight" follows a project dwelling New York high school girl from a sense of futility into the world of amateur boxing where she finds self esteem, purpose, and much more. Although the film is not about boxing, boxing is all about the film. So much so you can almost smell the sweat. Technically and artistically a good shoot with an sense of honesty and reality about it, "Girlfight" is no chick flick and no "Rocky". It is, rather, a very human drama which even viewers who don't know boxing will be able to connect with.

Since adding my review of this movie way back when, I have been disappointed and surprised to see so many IMDb reviews that see "Girlfight" as a kind of feminist fantasy. Is everyone aware that there really are women prize-fighters, some of whom really are capable of beating the crap out of most men? What's so improbable about the final boy-girl match isn't that the girl wins, but that it's her boyfriend she has to fight. And the only feminist thing about the movie is that the women's movement is probably what made it possible to write it as a drama instead of as a comedy. But there is no feminist "message" in this movie.

Casting unknown Michelle Rodriguez as Diana was a stroke of genius. She's perfect. Her acting inexperience actually works in her favor. We've never seen her before so it really feels like her story. She also brings across genuine toughness. This works against her though, because we never doubt her. You never have to cheer for her to win because she never goes up against any fighter we don't think she can beat. So as a boxing movie, it fails.

Then again, this isn't really a boxing movie. How do you make a movie about a girl who wants to be a boxer that isn't a boxing movie? You don't. But Karyn Kusama has anyway. Like many indie films, "Girlfight" defies classification or genre and stands on its own as folklore that could darn near happen in real life.

Diana is doing poorly in school. She beats up people she doesn't like (all the other girls in her school for example). She doesn't fit in. Her father is forcing her kid brother Tiny to learn to box so he can defend himself when things get tough. He gives Tiny money for his boxing sessions and gives Diana nothing, as if she has no need to defend herself, nor anything worthwhile to make of her life. Tiny wants to go to art school (cliche', yuck), so he gives up his boxing allowance to Diana, who actually wants to box. Things get complicated when Diana falls for another boxer, Adrian (Santiago Douglas), who's looking to turn pro. From there the story winds down toward the inevitable...the two meet in the amateur title fight.

What left me cold was that I never found any of this all that interesting. It's all just a bit too believable. Kids with tough lives growing up in rough urban areas fall back on sports. A lot of professional boxers have risen from these circumstances. The mental and physical toughness this upbringing requires lends itself to a game like boxing, where anger is your friend. So this time it's a girl. Big deal.

Or there's another position to take: finally, a boxing movie about a girl. Women's boxing has been around a long time. The brutality we usually see in boxing films is replaced here by discussions of people's their lives and their feelings. The whole fighting thing is used as a platform from which to paint a larger picture. Respect. Overcoming adversity. Self-discovery.

I recommend "Girlfight" because it has a good spirit and is an example of some great work by a first time director. The dialogue never rises above soap opera quality, but the story itself actually changed my view on some things. Yes, the world now seems like a better place. A film did that.

Grade: B-

Being a regular troublemaker at school, Diana starts to entertain the idea of learning to box properly like her brother is allowed to do. Knowing her father will never let her do it she steals the money from him and starts to train with Hector. Quickly improving in the ring despite the hoots of derision aimed at her from her fellow boxers, Diana finds problems with a lack of female opposition, love in the shape of another up and coming amateur and a conflict on the horizon with her father bound to find out sooner or later.

I'm not sure where I got the idea but for years I had the impression that this was a foreign indie film that had made a big impression and was critically praised. Mostly for these reasons I did really want to see it but never got round to it until it came onto television recently. By this point I had realized that it was an American movie with some indie aspirations but not the grit or adult content I had expected – anyway, this preconception was my fault so I put it out of my mind and settled to watch it. The story is a fairly straightforward tale of a teenage girl trying to cut an unusual path in her life, facing and overcoming obstacles along the way. In this regard it is all pretty standard stuff, although the boxing content made it more interesting for me. It is reasonably well written and brings in some themes of domestic violence, back story and so on, without ever really getting to grips with any of them that well.

However what makes the film much better than it could have been was the realistic, convincing and moody playing of newcomer (at the time) Michelle Rodriguez. At times she pushes it a bit too close to being a typical "whatever" teenager and loses our interest but for the most part we can see real heart in her character and she keeps us onside with just enough of a look inside her to keep caring. The direction is also good – matching Rodriguez down-to-earth performance by not playing up the boxing scenes or any other aspect of Diana's life. Support is good from Tirelli, Calderon, Douglas and Santiago to name a few and they hold the ground well for Rodriguez to stand out.

Overall this is not a great film, it is an enjoyable one but it rarely is more than par for the course in many areas. The script is OK but doesn't expand very well on the things it hints at, while the boxing scenes never get that exciting (although perhaps this is a strength). What makes it better than the sum of its parts though is a strong performance from Rodriguez delivering a down to earth performance that manages to be defensive and vulnerable at the same time, matched by a gritty tone to the direction throughout. Flawed and nothing special but its good points are enough to make it worth seeing.

I was not expecting the powerful filmmaking experience of "Girlfight". It's an Indie; low-budget, no big-name actors, freshman director. I had heard it was good, but not this good.

Placed in a contemporary, ethnic, working-class Brooklyn, Karyn Kusama has done an extraordinary job of capturing the day-do-day struggles of urban Latinos. Diana, the protagonist, is seething with anger and lashes out at her high school peers, getting in trouble with the school and her friends. She is being raised by her single father, who appears to love her and her brother, but applies a strict, sex-based double standard on his children. The father's double standard is illustrated by the fact that Tiny, the brother, is taking boxing lessons at the local gym, but Diana is denied similar pursuits. On an errand to the gym to meet Tiny, Diana is captivated by boxing. Tiny doesn't like boxing, so he and Diana trade places; he gets the money from Dad then gives it to Diana to take the lessons in his place.

This is actually a feel-good movie, as Diana grows and learns about herself through boxing, meets a guy, and addresses some very serious issues head-on. There's no giggly, 'everything that can go right does go right' resolution a la "Bend It Like Beckham". The reality and attendant personal issues are too big for pat resolutions, but in my opinion, "Girlfight" is a better and more satisfying film for it.