Tommy Riley, un champion dans les cordes

This is a superlative movie and I'll try to put any spoilage at the end. There are multiple themes interwoven in the script. The first and most important theme is that of redemption and of course the second chance. Eddie Jones is the trainer who is an educator, and to some extent, a rescuer of damaged souls. One of the surprises is that he needs rescuing himself. While set in a framework of a traditional fight movie, it does have something extra. If you haven't yet had the privilege of seeing this flick, stop reading here. I would say any spoiler begins here: I don't generally go in for the gay experience in movies as it doesn't interest me as a dramatic theme or personally. Just a matter of personal taste. I don't give a damn about orientation except as it relates to fairness and decency to other people. It does here. There is a strong theme of love and trust here with the gay's place in a "manly" sport. It is this tension that provides so much drama and is so important to us all when we consider how we treat each other.

Jones' character has an almost Christlike ability to repair another's broken spirit and it is his hubris (for the purpose of the drama) that his orientation has interfered with both his career as boxer and trainer, as well as his own sense of worth. His self-sacrifice for his protégé elevates this drama and gives it much of its specialness.

The theme of love and self-worth are masterfully handled here. The secondary theme that love transcends orientation - that it should not matter - is illustrated well here. One's human obligations trump one's personal tastes somehow. I loved the trainer's sense of caring and him personally, and it is one of the triumphs of this flick that Tommy Riley does too, in his own hetero way. More importantly, trust, character, and humane values are validated here as well.

I was also intrigued by the art and techniques of using facial aspect to show different stages and struggles in character development. The ways the director and cinematographer use the visual effects of contrast in facial definition are notable. From the somewhat maniacal face of lust and personal struggle in the face of the trainer at one point, to the final difference we see in Tommy's face itself at the end: more mature, seasoned, and somehow stronger for the sense of love, loss, and yet redemption, seen in his visage. A most striking way of making one's point. I give this film both my thumbs up.

I wouldn't have watched this, except that I'm working my way through gay cinema. I find boxing absolutely THE lowest form of entertainment. I understand that many people like watching fights and fight movies but for me that's just a sad commentary on the human condition.

So, while this was on I had one eye on a magazine for the first third or so. By midpoint, I got interested and stopped reading the magazine. By three-quarters in, I was totally involved.

I thought the performances were all good. I was conscious of the score reinforcing the mood maybe a little too much. I liked this movie, even though I generally have little respect for the genre. I could appreciate Million Dollar Baby, but I didn't particularly like it. This movie I liked. That probably has more to do with my being gay than anything else.

I saw the world premier of Fighting Tommy Riley at the LA Film Festival on Sunday June 20th. This is a really really good film. Eddie Jones (Marty) gives a beautifully layered performance that moved me to tears at points. Diane Tayler's "Diane Stone" gave a spark to the film. I only wish I had seen more of here character and that the relationship that she and Marty had developed more. J P Davis was good also. This film in many ways has a familiar story but it is told in a different way. I was not expecting to like a film set in the boxing world so much but this film is about love and the ties that bind us. I hope that this film gets distribution because it is a great film with some really good performances.

It's true that a boxing movie theme can sometimes be a trap. You never know what to expect and in the most of the cases you end the movie with a huge feel of disappointment. I had this movie with me for quite a few time, on my "to watch" list but always pushing him back for several reasons, and the biggest one was something called "Million Dollar Baby"…need to say more? Well time passed and one night I decided to give it a try, and I just can say that I was knocked out by it. Everything from the beginning to end just fall into the right places, and especially I was impressed with the fact that dealing with a theme like this you can easily fall into common places, situations, dialog's and characters. J.P. Davis wrote a compelling human script, much more beyond that any other boxing movie that I ever saw, with the exception of the brilliant "Million Dollar Baby". In fact, boxing sequences you have few, they exist but on a far dimension. The true battle here it's other; loneliness, redemption, forbidden love, shattered dreams, commitment and honor are themes that J.P. unbelievable well explores on his own script. The performances are amazing, and Eddie Jones just throws a show. In my opinion the fact that it's a very low budget production, less than half of million, helps a lot on the way that the movie portraits reality and also the way that he gets under your skin. Shoot on digital, the rudeness and cruelty of the video, make you smell the pictures on the screen, and other factor is the absence of spectacular shoots (crowds watching the fights, technical sequences) which makes you only care about the main characters and the way that they fight and act between themselves. Well done J.P. can't wait to see what comes next.

Fighting Tommy Riley is simply one of the best Indie films I've seen. It had me glued to the screen within ten minutes. J.P. Davis is a multi-talented man. In addition to playing the title character, he wrote the screenplay and produced the movie as well. And he can act! On the surface he looks like an underwear model, like so many up and coming 20's actors, but this guy has a complete emotional vocabulary. Mainstream Hollywood should be at his doorstep. He completely inhabits Tommy Riley in a way that very few actors with the right "look" could ever hope to achieve. Casting veteran actor Eddie Jones was a coup. Jones meets Davis's intensity on every level and the two of them create a complicated and wonderful rapport. Jones, in fact, is heart breaking; a character that so often slumps into empty sentimentality is rendered with honest reality.

The film is directed superbly. The story is told clearly and directly. The gay subtext of trainer lusting after fighter is handled frankly, sincerely and with a bittersweet truth. It exposes a sad case in our society, straight or gay, that older people are denied physical love at every level.

This is a far more engrossing film than Hollywood hype favorites Cinderella Man and Million Dollar Baby. Director O'Flaherty has more talent in his pinkie than does Ron Howard and Clint Eastwood in their collective big buck bodies.