NEW YORK – The sports movie, like any genre, can easily fall victim to overly familiar story beats. An underdog challenger. A big match. You know how the rest goes.
But a trio of new movies brings some original moves, and a few curveballs, to a genre where tried-and-true formula often reigns supreme. In a movie year that’s already given us “Challengers” – a tennis movie that has almost nothing to do with tennis and everything to do with the dynamics of a threesome – these movies carve out their own place in the hard knocks world of sports dramas.
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Each, curiously enough, is a directorial debut by an industry veteran. And each features, among other fine performances, one of the great standbys of the sports film and the abiding refuge of great character actors: the inspirational coach.
“Day of the Fight”
Jack Huston’s “Day of the Fight,” currently playing in theaters, stars Michael Pitt as down-and-out middleweight boxer “Irish” Mike Flannigan. He is, like some battered boxers before him, seeking redemption. Flannigan’s once-promising career was long ago derailed by a fatal drunk driving accident. But on this day, he’s preparing for an unlikely opportunity: an undercard bout at Madison Square Garden.
“Day of the Fight” is loosely based on the 1951 Stanley Kubrick documentary short of the same name, and it’s likewise in black and white. Huston, the “Boardwalk Empire” actor and grandson to director John Huston, has mulled the movie since watching his “Boardwalk” co-star Pitt, the sometimes troubled but always talented actor.
“I had in my head this image of Michael Pitt punching a sandbag when we were on the set of ‘Boardwalk,'" says Huston. "I think his life in a strange way mimics that of a boxer — sometimes the ups, sometimes the downs. Specifically where he is in his life right now, he has the essence of that boxer mentality. He can take a punch but, guess what, he keeps standing up.”
“Day of the Fight” culminates in the Madison Square Garden match, but the movie is largely about the preamble to the fight. The movie follows Flannigan on a series of poignant errands.
“I wanted to make a film where you didn’t necessarily need the boxing match,” Huston says. “The boxing match became icing.”
The film instead evolves as an elegiac character study of a man, pummeled by life, trying to put things in order.
“Me and Michael used to speak about how you can walk into any boxing gyms and you’d find multiple stories just like Irish Mike’s,” says Huston. “These guys go through it. I think that’s probably why their world is so fascinating to us.”
CORNERMAN: Ron Perlman. Though “Day of the Fight” is graced by a several father figures (Joe Pesci, Steve Buscemi), the one that really stands out is Perlman’s coach. Perlman, the spectacular character actor, has all the gravitas and crustiness you’d ever want in a boxing coach.
“Unstoppable”
William Goldenberg, the Oscar-winning editor (“Argo,” “Heat”) directs this based-on-a-true-story drama about the life of NCAA champion wrestler Anthony Robles, played by Jharrel Jerome. The film, which arrives Jan. 16 on Prime Video, chronicles Robles’ constant hardships, not the least of which is that he was born without his right leg.
While “Unstoppable” does steer toward the moment of ultimate triumph for Robles, it carefully and naturally dramatizes his long road to the championship. It’s less about Robles’ overcoming one challenge than it is about his perseverance through constant adversary. Jennifer Lopez co-stars as his mother, with Bobby Cannavale as an abusive step father.
“At a certain point, it’s a movie about an athlete who wins, so there’s going to be certain tropes that are unavoidable. And I didn’t want to avoid them,” says Goldenberg. “I just wanted to try to do them in an organic, real-feeling way. Shooting handheld was the idea that we’re with him along the journey, so you feel like you were facing the challenges he faces.”
“It was a constant battle,” says Robles. “That’s kind of how I felt going through my life, whether it was on a mat against a flesh and blood opponent or it was in my family life or the world. There was always something I was fighting against.”
“Unstoppable” is unique for another reason. While Jerome, the charismatic up-and-coming actor of “Moonlight," bulked up for the role and devoted himself to shadowing Robles, he couldn’t do everything that Robles could. For the wrestling scenes, Robles was Jerome’s body double.
“I signed on to the movie and then I was like: How am I going to do the wrestling?” says Goldenberg. “I watched so many hours of him wrestling. I thought, there’s no way I can do this without him doubling himself. He moves in a way that I just thought no one could ever master.”
CORNERMAN: “Unstoppable” is the rare sports drama to give you not just one excellent coach, but two. Because it spans Robles’ wrestling career in high school and college, we first get Michael Peña as his most devoted supporter, and, later, Don Cheadle as his initially more skeptical coach in college.
“The Fire Inside”
“The Fire Inside,” directed by decorated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (“Fruitvale Station,” “Mudbound”), is also about a real champion, the Olympic gold medal winner Claressa Shields (played by Destiny Ryan).
The first half of “The Fire Inside,” which opens Dec. 25, is somewhat conventional, albeit crafted with a keen sense of texture and the local flavor of Flint, Michigan, where Shields was from. It charts her rise as a female boxer leading up to the 2012 Olympics. Once she's won gold, you might even glance at your watch and wonder why they wrapped things up so quickly.
But the film, scripted by Barry Jenkins, the “Moonlight” director, then turns into something else, something more interesting. Shields’ glory is short-lived. No Wheaties box covers come for her. A tough Black woman in a bloody sport who makes no apologies for her interest in knocking out her opponent, is unappealing to marketers. As “The Fire Inside” continues in its thought-provoking third act, it asks questions less about who wins and more about who gets to be deemed “an American hero.”
CORNERMAN: Brian Tyree Henry plays Shields’ devoted cornerman Jason Crutchfield for the duration, from her first jabs in the gym to her post-Olympics struggles. Henry, a tender and soulful actor in everything, is more of a co-star than a supporting player. Of all the coaches in these three films, he’s the one you’d most want cheering you on.