BIOGRAPHICAL FESTIVAL FILMS REVIEWED ON A 9 POINT SCALE
SWEENEY CHANGES ACTING MASKS FOR GRITTY SPORTS BIOPIC
by PETER THOMAS BUSCH
The rising star in women’s boxing starts out with nothing in a small West Virginia town.
And Christy Martin almost ends up with nothing despite becoming a prominent female boxer.
Director David Michod creates a linear narrative for the title character with several twists and turns to show the road ahead is fraught with great peril.
The ‘another boxing film’ rings differently as the script occasionally finds social issues, such as gender equality and family violence, just as important as training.
Sydney Sweeney removes all the glamour from her screen character to perform more as a gym jock than a Hollywood starlit. The floppy hair cuts and baggy clothing of the era make everything fit a bit better.
Sweeney though creates just the right type of character who can endure the hours in the gym getting ready for that ‘next fight’ with a payday that will set everybody up for life.
The pickings are slim at first at $300 a fight. But those tough girl challenges bring professional attention to Christy as her raw talent may become even more special after a few weeks of professional training.
Ben Foster plays boxing trainer Jim Martin who initially wants nothing to do with a girl boxer (sound familiar) until he sees Christy’s knock out punch. Martin becomes more and more enthusiastic, but he cannot line up bigger fights for Christy.
Sweeney works through plenty of scenes of Christy training in the gym and running on the road, but the camera also follows Christy when she is not boxing, such as being content with spending time in a trailer after escaping her childhood home where her parents had begun to question her individuality.
The twist in the storyline occurs when Jim and Christy start connecting on an emotional level, as one might expect when two people spend so much time together. The rising sports star narrative then begins to move along side the ‘girl and boy kissing in a tree’ narrative, especially after the two love birds get married.
Christy transitions out of the trailer home, while the boxing continues on in front of bigger and bigger audiences.
A score wending through the scenes suggests something is up, other than boxing, well before the scene sequences begin to hint there is something wrong in loveland. Of course, with the money from bigger boxing purses, comes recreational drugs, which induce the jealous husband to show more and more of his true self.
Christy can no longer just walk away, though, when the realization sets in that Jim might not be all that nice of a human being. Christy must stay because she only knows boxing, and only knows boxing through Jim.
Michod maintains an unglamorous movie aesthetic with all the main characters struggling with life while the leading players only having accumulated a modest house and a yellow sportscar for him, and a pink sportscar for her.
The first next big fight eventually does happen after Christy and Jim are introduced to sports promotor Don King. King wants to put Christy on the undercard of a Mike Tyson fight, and Christy aint gonna let nobody take the opportunity away from her.
Sweeney puts a lot into creating a character distinct from her performance in other recent movies as her Hollywood star rises. Christy has this toughness in the ring, but then she also has a naïve vulnerable side that results in her beginning to suffer in her personal life.
The film is a bit of a throw back to the early nineties, with the scenes filled with low budget cars one step from the scrapyard, especially with the owners not minding too much about detailing the bodies and changing the engine oil.
The boxing genre film gradually turns in on itself with Christy using great technique to beat up opponents in the ring only to eventually get beat up at home.
RATING SYSTEM 0/.5/1 IN 9 CATEGORIES
Promotion (1) Acting (1) Casting (1) Directing (1) Cinematography (1) Script (.5) Narrative (1) Score (1) Overall Vision (.5)
TOTAL RATING: 8 OF 9 STARS
DIRECTOR RON HOWARD USES A MINIMALIST AESTHETIC
by PETER THOMAS BUSCH
Those who can do, stay, and those who choose not to do, leave.
Director Ron Howard tells the story of German idealists who see the end game of Nazi Germany and make the decision to leave for a survivalist’s island paradise in 1929.
The narrative flows seamlessly between three character studies as Howard takes a creative minimalist approach to individual scene composition on Floreana Island in the Galapagos.
Like the survivalists escaping the self-destructive fascist society developing in Europe, the camera angel is just so, and the edges are cropped just enough to achieve a rich aesthetic that runs throughout the film.
A score of violines wends through the script in sync with the scenes.
Jude Law plays the original survivalist, Dr Friedrich Ritter, who leaves Nazi Germany behind to write a new philosophy for what will come after an era of fascist chaos. Ritter’s need for publicity begins to erode his need for isolation as two groups of survivalist arrive off the ships that pass by every once in a while.
Ritter is ultimately a follower of philosopher Friedrich Neitzsche, who wants to build on the philosopher’s decision that God is dead and that humanity is all alone to survive.
Vanessa Kirby plays Dore Strauch, Ritter’s unmarried partner who shares the same values, but also chooses isolation in nature to overcome a debilitating disease.
Sydney Sweeney as Margret Wittner, and Daniel Bruhl as Heinz Wittmer, play the first family to arrive with the intention of joining Ritter’s colony. Ritter though insists on isolation so he can continue writing his new philosophy.
The Wittners get minimal help and are purposely given flawed instructions, in the wrong direction, on how to survive as neighbours.
Ana de Armas arrives with trusted aides as the Baroness. While the Wittners at least share the same world view about surviving on the island as Dr. Ritter, the Baroness wants to turn the writings of Ritter into a tourist attraction by building a luxurious hotel for millionaires.
The script quickly gets into the philosophical differences of the three camps. And the independent stories eventually begin to collide with each other.
Howard takes the opportunity of an increasingly intertwining narrative to delve deeper into the character studies. Eventually the true character of humanity in nature begins to reveal itself.
Casting does a remarkable job by bringing together talented actors for distinct character studies. These characters are ultimately in competition with each other for survival, which creates the tone and atmosphere for a compelling film.
Eden is streaming on Prime Video.
RATING SYSTEM 0/.5/1 IN 9 CATEGORIES
Promotion (1) Acting (1) Casting (1) Directing (1) Cinematography (1) Script (1) Narrative (1) Score (1) Overall Vision (.5)
TOTAL RATING: 8.5 OF 9 STARS
FIRST FEMALE SOLDIER CLIMBED OVER SEVERAL GENDER BARRIERS
by PETER THOMAS BUSCH
Sandra Perron made her way through the worst as the first.
In Out Standing (2025) the first female infantry officer in the Canadian military is able to keep up as she is put through the paces of basic training.
Director Melanie Charbonneau begins with those first few weeks in the military as a fulfillment of a kind of requirement for military films to begin there. But this film is no ordinary military film.
Charbonneau follows the constant emotional and psychological abuse Perron received as the first and only female, after the other three female candidates dropped out because of the hazing or could not keep up with the basics. The film never really gets to a military mission and instead focusses on Perron’s day to day experiences.
The narrative begins with Perron, played by Nina Kiri, getting off a military transport plane for the last time as she resigns. Kiri shows Perron had deep trauma on the inside while refusing to complain about her treatment that caused the trauma.
The narrative jumps about in time a bit as the director repeatedly refers to extended scenes from the wraparound now and then throughout the film before going back to basic training, then back to the real time wraparound, and then back to a training exercise later in Perron’s career.
Kiri depicts Perron as being able to succeed as an infantry captain although also being incrementally traumatized by the targeting, of her as a female, by male soldiers.
If time is not constant, the harassment is constant throughout the film, and the trauma seems to eventually catch up to the camera.
Charbonneau uses dark shadows and frequent silhouettes within cleverly framed scenes, although she always shoots in a 1990s television light, under incandescents, no doubt.
The scenes become more internalized as Kiri shows how Perron gradually becomes so traumatized as to be cornered into just wanting to give up. And that even when Perron succeeds later in her military career, the resentment toward her by many of the male soldiers continues.
It is all so sordid and ever so subtle at times – but frequently quite flagrant in public for everyone to witness.
The film also discusses uniquely feminine issues other than the difficulty of entering the male dominated military, such as relationship troubles and the need to have an abortion performed so as not to lose her spot in the infantry.
Perron was an army brat whose father had a 35 year military career. Kiri shows how Perron is motivated by having wanted to be an infantry officer all her life, moving from army base to army base with her father when his assignment changed, and then joining the cadets before entering the infantry program.
Antoine Rochette composes a score that Charbonneau uses throughout the film to underscore, in nearly every scene from beginning to end, that Perron has experienced severe emotional and psychological abuse, and that she is only realizing now, in real time (wraparound), the trauma that has been previously internalized.
Overall, everyone and everything is directed to this eventuality as bits and pieces of trauma start to surface during scenes. But the desired effect could have been emphasized a bit more for the big screen.
Charbonneau has brought all the elements together, though, with interesting direction and frequent flourishes of creativity. Having worked hard, the cast and crew succeed in making this dramatization interesting and thought provoking without leaving the concept that what happened to Perron was real and was ultimately damaging to her psyche.
RATING SYSTEM 0/.5/1 IN 9 CATEGORIES
Promotion (1) Acting (1) Casting (1) Directing (1) Cinematography (.5) Script (1) Narrative (1) Score (1) Overall Vision (.5)
TOTAL RATING: 8 OF 9 STARS
HEROIC CHARACTER TRANSFORMS INTO COMPLICATED DRAMATIC ROLE
by PETER THOMAS BUSCH
The biggest actor in Hollywood has to be Dwayne Johnson weighing in at 6 ft 3 in (6 ft 5 in) and 255 pounds as professional wrestler Mark Kerr.
Johnson stars in the biopic The Smashing Machine (2025) about the origin of MMA or UFC or the start of wrestlers fighting boxers who also fight jiu jitsu artists, and then every discipline gets all mixed up into a new sport.
Director Benny Safdie encapsulates plenty of fight scenes into the storyboard, at least those 20 seconds or so of a victory in the ring, to drive the narrative forward.
And then Safdie uses Kerr’s relationship with Dawn to drive a second narrative in the background. Emily Blunt costars as Kerr’s love interest, Dawn Staples. The camera brings the love relationship closer and closer to the main narrative as the plot reaches the reversal scenes.
Blunt creates a complicated character that lacks emotional control and self awareness. Dawn enters a relationship with Kerr supporting his passion for professional wrestling, but who then finds something lacking in the connection.
The training sequences are kept to a minimum. And the pace of the film is slowed down for intimate moments at home with Dawn trying to contribute to Mark’s sports career as much as possible, such as by making protein smoothies and helping out during a pre-training stretching session.
Blunt does show Dawn as wanting a bit more attention, though, which leads to emotional chaos as those involved try to sort out priorities.
The story is filmed like a vlog giving each scene that self made documentary grittiness as Johnson moves from the locker room to the ring to the living room as if his best friend is following him around on set with a home movie camera.
A jazz score slows down the narrative and blurs the reality of a fighter preparing for the next match. These introspective moments depict Kerr struggling with the physical pain and a simple life that is getting more complicated with the emotional involvement of other people. And then popular songs pick up the pace on the way to another wrestling match.
The singular focus of Mark on his professional sports career causes Dawn to want more. Everything gets even more confused for both of them when Mark becomes addicted to the pain medication he uses to recover from the brutally violent clashes in the ring with other equally determined fighters.
The nickel and dime professional wrestling circuit quickly transitions to the bigger paydays of Mixed Martial Arts, at the same time the love interest creeps toward a do or die proposition.
Johnson creates a three dimensional character that drives the entire film while Blunt interacts in a supporting role just enough to bring that complicated character out. Dawn is there for Mark but the two characters together often make for intimate scenes of emotional trauma, when the camera slows down and everything focusses on the dialogue.
Kerr is portrayed as a soft spoken singularly focusses professional athlete, still struggling to attain the pinnacle of success he so desires. But the gentle giant’s ability to sweet talk his way through certain moral dilemmas hints at someone else hiding inside who randomly comes to the fore when he does not get his way.
There is enough of a love story there though to keep everything interesting until the end credits. You wait for the next fight scenes until you start wanting to know what the next stage of the love relationship is.
In this way, the plot incrementally spins inside and out.
Johnson wears a partial facial prosthetic that masks his regular heroic screen character while he has also developed this softer spoken more vulnerable persona, in a dramatic role. The actor suppresses the vitriol and bravado filled character, such as the frantic military veteran running security in Skyscraper (2018) or the whimsical tour boat captain in the Jungle Cruise (2021).
Blunt crushes the character in portraying Dawn as having a silent, inner complication, while presenting outwardly as a shallow persona who means well but just cannot keep focussed on attaining the best results from the most important moments in life with Mark.
In all fairness to Dawn, Mark is not the most impassioned lover, and he also cannot regulate his emotions on the days when love enters his thoughts.
RATING SYSTEM 0/.5/1 IN 9 CATEGORIES
Promotion (1) Acting (1) Casting (1) Directing (.5) Cinematography (.5) Script (1) Narrative (1) Score (1) Overall Vision (1)
TOTAL RATING: 8 OF 9 STARS