Yesterday’s ‘Summer Preview’ discussion reminded me that we forgot to post the trailer for Southpaw a couple of weeks ago when it first dropped. In truth, I never even looked at this until late last tonight, because the only boxing movies I normally like are the ones where the guys getting punched in the face are chronic screw-ups who aren’t capable of much more than getting punched in the face. Happy to see a large part of Southpaw is just that, very realistically. Even happier to see that director Antoine Fuqua is reaching for much more than that and seems likely to achieve it, very realistically. So I’ll hold off on saying Southpaw is this year’s “Gyllenhaallar Baby” (but I’ll go on record saying it just this once before somebody else thinks to say it.)
From director Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) and writers Kurt Sutter (SONS OF ANARCHY) and Richard Wenk (THE MECHANIC) comes SOUTHPAW – the story of Billy “The Great” Hope, Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World. When tragedy strikes and he loses it all, Billy enters the battle of his life as he struggles to become a contender once again and win back those he loves. SOUTHPAW stars Academy Award® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, Academy Award® winner Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Rita Ora, Naomie Harris and Victor Ortiz.
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Absolutely agree with you, Ryan! The fact that there’s been so many of these does show whose fantasies run the hollywood machine.
“nearly nude guys keeping fit and playing rough.” …. “It’s a sort of legitimized soft-core porn, so who’s complaining?”
I’m not gonna lie. My first reaction to this trailer was how much better Jake looked here than he did in Nightcrawler. Not that his acting looked better, mind you, just that he did. 😉
– I assume that they’re all metaphors – but perhaps bad ones. People think of their lives as a battle, and the hand to hand combat thing visualizes that in a raw form
– I’m skeptical about any film where the main character (whose life is falling apart) is named Billy HOPE.
I didn’t want to keep carping about a genre that so many moviegoers (and moviemakers) are enamored of, but these two remarks sum up some of my feelings.
Notice how most of the boxing/wrestling movies with uplifting inspirational stories are pure fiction? Notice how the ones about actual boxers and wrestlers are often tinged with grim pathetic tragedy? The first type is the male fantasy version of the sadder stark reality.
I’m fully onboard with the stark reality variety. But I don’t much care for glorification and mythologizing of brute violence.
The title Cinderella Man is telling: wise up, macho wannabe fisticuffs; getting paid to get punched in the face is a cruel freak show. If it’s made to look noble or heroic, then you’re watching a fairy tale.
I guess guys are entitled to their fairy tales if that’s what they like. Obviously it’s a fascinating milieu to dozens of great writers, directors, actors and movie lovers. I’m not among them, but that’s no reason for me to dismiss a movie like this out of hand.
Seriously, Southpaw looks like one of the better efforts, so I’ll be up for it.
First rule of Fight Club… *sigh* *shrug* …don’t trashtalk Fight Club.
It is what it is. (and one thing it is: nearly nude guys keeping fit and playing rough.)
(another thing it is, if these were girls, would be a half-naked cat-fight. It’s a sort of legitimized soft-core porn, so who’s complaining?)
Love Jake, but I’m skeptical about any film where the main character (whose life is falling apart) is named Billy HOPE.
I tend to agree with Ryan about the whole fighting thing. But I have to admit that I’ve seen most of the films mentioned in this thread (Raging Bull, Rocky, Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby, The Fighter, Warrior, Foxcatcher), so there’s a decent chance I’ll see Southpaw too.
I assume that they’re all metaphors – but perhaps bad ones. People think of their lives as a battle, and the hand to hand combat thing visualizes that in a raw form that even war films can’t quite convey, and in a way that even the dumbest lunkhead in the audience can understand. It may not be healthy for us to think of our lives in this way, but a lot of people do.
And come to think of it, isn’t our yearly Oscar watching a lot like banging our head against a brick wall or sticking our hand down a garbage disposal? 😉
Antoine Fuqua can’t direct for shit, not for actual shit, and I’m sick to death of boring-ass storylines like this qualifying as satisfactory narratives on the basis that someone might get an Oscar nomination for them. Might.
I generally only buy into a Jake Gyllenhaal character when he’s utterly pitiful, and I generally only enjoy a Jake Gyllenhaal character when he’s utterly pitiless. This time, it’s more his pitiful desperation to win an Oscar that I’m buying into, and not in a good way.
Also, Rita Ora’s in this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pubd-spHN-0
The preview for Southpaw is basically like the animated bunnies shorts that sum up an entire movie. Can’t imagine any reason to see it now.
Ryan, have you seen Rocky? There’s a certain charm to that movie that I feel almost can’t be ignored. It’s a Stallone I’d support.
This is just me personally, you guys. I just have very little interest in the type of person who would say to himself: “What do I want to do with my life? How about I make a career of bloody violent aggression and letting people hammer my face with their fists until I’m brain damaged. Yeah, that’s a good way to go!”
Unless the movie has some sort of meaningful point to make about the pathetic idiocy behind such a choice, makes the craziness a major part of the theme, then no, I don’t admire movies that make boxing or wrestling look like heroic endeavors.
I wouldn’t enjoy a movie where the protagonist is a lunkhead who gets paid to smash his skull into a brick wall and I wouldn’t watch a movie where spectators cheer to watch rivals compete to see who’s man enough to stick his hand inside a grinding garbage disposal either.
But if a director doesn’t glorify it, and wants to take a hard look at the circumstances that lead people down this weird path, then I’ll go along for the ride in the hope that I might someday understand the source of the sado-masochist attraction.
Cock-fighting and dog-fighting are illegal because the cruelty men inflict on poor dumb animals is sick. But I guess it’s fine and dandy if the poor dumb creature being exploited is a human being.
I would like to add the absolutely stunning movie Warrior.
PS This looks like typically overblown, improbably melodramatic Kurt Sutter writing, but I’m still gonna see it.
I also wanted to add Foxcatcher to the movies I listed above.
Wrestling and boxing are not sports that I particularly watch but I love movies about them. Million Dollar Baby, Raging Bull, The Wrestler, Cinderella Man, The Fighter – all very good to great movies.
Fuqua doesn’t have the greatest track record for me (The Equalizer is just average, and Olympus Has Fallen is terrible) but this trailer is great. Hopefully this will be a return to form.
I’m on the other side of this one; I love a good boxing movie. “Million Dollar Baby” is one of my all-time favorites. “Rocky,” “Cinderella Man,” “Raging Bull.” I just love ’em.
This one looks like it might be very, very good!! 🙂