Fighter

VIFF 2012 Review: Rust And Bone (De Rouille et D’os)

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Rust And Bone is a French film that’s not your typical artsy type of movie you’d associate with the term ‘French film’. Instead it’s an offbeat romance between two unlikely people. It has to be the year’s most unlikely romance story.

Ali is a Belgian man who’s had it rough. A young father of a five year-old boy names Sam, he’s dirt poor and often looks for food or steals it. He dreams of being a mixed martial arts fighter but has to earn a living as a security guard or bouncer and make whatever extra money he can from outdoor fringe fighting. He travels with Sam to Antibes, France living with his sister in hopes of a better life.

Stephanie is a killer whale trainer at the French resort town. She appears to have things better for her as her job is more stable and pays well but something is missing in her life. The fact that she goes to night clubs scantily dressed shows she’s missing something.

Ali and Stephanie first meet by accident. A brawl starts at the night club Ali is a bouncer at and Stephanie is hurt with a bloody nose. Ali offers to take her home and look after her for a short while. They trade phone numbers but they soon return to their regular lives. The next day Stephanie returns to her job at the oceanarium. The show seems business as usual until one of the orcas flies in and smashes the wooden office leaving Stephanie injured and bleeding. The wounds were so bad, both her legs were amputated.

Ali had all but ignored Stephanie until he received a call from her. They spend time together including times when he takes her swimming at the beach. During the time, she learns to get her self-confidence back. She’s able to swim, to stand and walk with prosthetics and even return to her job at the oceanarium.

Even though Ali helped her through it all, he is the one struggling. He has problems financially and still does his fighting outside. He has difficulties juggling his security work with his fighting. Sometimes he spends less time around Sam than he should. He constantly spends time with Stephanie and even has sex with her but still engages with women frequently even in front of Stephanie.

There would eventually have to be some message to send him to turn his life around but nothing does. Stephanie is tired of spending all this time with Ali despite his unwillingness to have a relationship. During his work as a security guard, he discovers people stealing from the store his sister works at. One of them is his sister and she gets fired. The sister throws him out of the house and it’s just up for him and Sam all alone. Things don’t change for him until a near-tragedy happens. It leads to changes for both but an ending that ended rather flat.

It’s hard to pinpoint what the actual theme of the movie is. If I could determine a theme, it would be about love turning your life around. I think the most unique thing about this film is that it makes a very good effort in creating a romance in the most unlikely of circumstances. A romance between a woman who just lost her legs and a man who is pursuing bloodsports doesn’t come across as your typical romance fair but the film was successful in achieving it. Part of it had to do with the screenplay co-written by director Jacques Audiard with Thomas Bidegain and in directing. It was most well-written to present a very real situation and real sets of events. Also part of the success of it was the acting from Marion Cotillard. She has one of her best acting performances in years. Her ability to act out the part very well and give depth to her character also adds to the film. Matthias Schoenarts didn’t give as stellar a performance as Ali but he did a good job for himself. Also a standout effort is the score from Alexandre Desplat. He keeps on churning out scores that fit movies well and he does it here again. Another standout effort of the film is the use of Katy Parry’s song Firework. The song is first used as part of the orca show but later becomes Stephanie’s personal anthem of self-recovery. Stephanie’s a firework.

Rust And Bone has already received good acclaim at film festivals. It was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film festival. It also won the Golden Swan for Best Film at the Cabourg Romantic Film Festival. It has made the circuit for many Canadian film festivals including Toronto. It’s expected to be released in North American theatres on Novermber 23rd in limited release.

Rust And Bone is not your typical romantic movie but it’s a very deep story about people with deep emotions that were meant to be together. Despite its imperfections and lack of spectacle, it’s still worth seeing. You’d be surprised how good it is.

2010 Oscars Best Picture Nominee: The Fighter

Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

I’m sure that once you hear about the movie The Fighter, the first thing you’ll say is “Not another boxing movie.” It’s more than that. It’s about real people with a goal. It’s about a real-life boxer who wanted to win a title and won it. It was also about other battles he had to face along the way.

The movie starts in 1995 when Micky Ward is a 30 year-old unsuccessful boxer. He’s managed by his mother Alice and trained by his brother Dicky, who once fought Sugar Ray Leonard as a rising talent. Micky has unfortunately established himself as a fighter other boxers defeat to raise their standings. Dicky has turned to a life of crack addiction.He frequently visits a crack house where his girldfriend, a prostitute, stays.  He thinks HBO is filming a documentary about his comeback and allows them to film everything, including his crack smoking.

Micky becomes disheartened with his career after losing a match against a last-minute replacement for his original opponent who fell ill. Upon retreating from the world, he meets Charlene, a bartender who was a former college athlete. They soon become a pair. However this does not go well with the family. After Micky turns down a fight offer Alice made, Alice and Micky’s seven sisters feel that Charlene demotivated him. They start calling her things like ‘MTV’.

Micky however has been given an offer for better training in Vegas, but the family has a strong mistrust from offers from outsiders. They feel people other than family, especially Vegas people, try to use fighters. Dicky tries to match the offer by claiming he can get the money. Dicky then fixes up a prostitution arrest heist to steal a car only to be foiled. As Micky sees Dicky being tackled by the police, Micky jumps in to stop the police beating, but Micky is beaten and arrested himself. At the trial, Micky is released but Dicky is sentenced to prison.

While in prison, Dicky is shocked that the HBO documentary he was filmed in was about crack addiction in Lowell. He and his family watching at home are humiliated that it documented his downfall into crack addiction and crime. Micky’s father tries to motivate him back into boxing. It works as his father assembles a new trainer and a new manager and explains to Micky that his mother and brother will no longer be involved. They place him in minor fights to regain his confidence and is soon placed in an HBO-televised title fight against a rising young talent.

Micky visits Dicky in prison and Dicky gives him advise before the match. Originally Micky dismisses it, feeling Dicky just wants to bring back his failed career. During the fight, Micky is overwhelmed but takes his brother’s advice late into the fight. It works for the better as Micky earns a surprised win. This puts him in a match against an English fighter for a World Welterweight title.

Before the match, Dicky is released from prison. He is free from drugs; motivated by the humiliation of that HBO ‘special’. He and his mother go to see Micky train. At the gym, Dicky is met with the unfriendly news that he is no longer to be involved with Micky. Charlene and his trainer leave in disgust, unhappy to see Dicky and his mother back. Micky then gets into a violent fight with Dicky at the gym, leaving him injured. Dicky goes back to the crack house but opts to say goodbye. He then talks with an angry Charlene and points out to her that she shouldn’t call him a failure when she’s a college drop out. He tells her that Micky needs them both and to work together. Everyone is brought back together in time for the fight in London. Like the HBO fight, Micky takes a lot from his opponent at the beginning, but later comes on strong to knock his opponent out. He achieves his World Welterweight title. Years later, Dicky credits Micky for his own success.

Some would immediately dismiss it as another Rocky, but it’s too premature. The fact that Micky Ward had to succeed as a boxer and overcome a lot of family problems is what makes this story unique. Also surprising how two sets of people who were completely against each other had to come together for the World title fight. That was another battle Micky had to deal with on his way to the top.

That had to be the most notable thing about this movie. ‘Irish’ Micky Ward was fighting as many battles outside the ring as he was fighting inside the ring. In addition to the family problems and rivalry between training groups, it also appeared he was fighting time taking away his athletic prime, the negative rap of his family, and the bad name his town of Lowell has received over the decades as an industrial town gone downhill.  Mark Wahlberg, a native of Massachusetts himself who also grew up in a large working class family, is both a fan and friend of Micky Ward and considers him a local hero. It’s no wonder that playing him would be an honor.

Another thing this movie reminds us is how much poor areas, in both developed countries and developing countries, value athletes. There have been many athletes from around the world in many sports who came from the poorest areas and the biggest slums to athletic greatness. They play a role to the youth, the community as a whole, and even a nation in showing that there can be a way out of the hard times. Boxing is one of those sports where many have come from rough upbringings and have gone on to athletic greatness. Some of the biggest names in boxing have grown up in the slums or in poor conditions.

Mark Wahlberg was impressive in playing Micky Ward. He also prepared very well physically to have a boxer’s body. However it’s the supporting performances that steal the show in the movie. Christian Bale was excellent as Dicky. It appeared he studied Dicky’s mannerisms and voice to a tee. He even had to lose a lot of weight to get the right look of a crack addict. Melissa Leo was also marvelous as Alice. Both actors were excellent in getting the right Boston accents and right physical mannerisms of their characters to master the roles. Amy Adams will surprise many as the sexy but feisty Charlene. The group of seven sisters also had their scene stealing minutes. My favorite was when Alice and the sisters were furiously rushing over to Charlene’s house and it looked like this ‘army of big hair’. You had to see it to love it! David O. Russell did by far his best directing job. He has directed film before like Three Kings and I Love Huckabees but nothing as remarkable as this.

So if you think that The Fighter is just another Rocky, you’re wrong. This really happened. Micky Ward and his family did go through all this. Seeing what Micky and his family went through in order to win the title makes one appreciate what he went through and why Mark Wahlberg is an admirer.