Chris Knipp Writing: Movies, Politics, Art


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 8:17 am 
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MICKEY O'KEEFE, MARK WAHLBERG, AND CHRISTIAN BALE IN THE FIGHTER

Nice guys can win

The Fighter sounds generic and it sort of is, but it triumphs over limitations -- like its hero. It's Rocky-like upbeat story of a boxer's victory over adversity doesn't revolutionize the genre. But David O. Russell brings his knack for wild satire and precipitous action, and a cast who give their all combine to make this a a strong and memorable movie. At the center of things is an interesting paradox that's fascinating and disturbing. The boxing hopeful Micky Ward is betrayed and let down by his in-your-face crackhead half-brother Dicky Ecklund (Christian Bale, again emaciated), a one-time "Pride of Lowell" himself. (Working-class Lowell, Mass. is an essential player in this true story.) Dicky once knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard (or did Leonard trip?) and then became an addict. Now his insistence on being Micky's mentor is a millstone around the younger boxer's back. And yet, Dicky's boxing insights somehow seem essential to Micky's success. Likewise Bale's borderline absurd scene-stealing seems destined to rip apart the conviction of Wahlberg's sweet authenticity, yet together they produce a one-two punch that leaves you reeling and underlines the authentic flavor and pleasing surprises of the fight sequences. The Fighter, with its continual ensemble scenes, jumps off the screen and into your face, and maybe your heart.

The conflict -- whether Dicky is a liability or an essential asset to Micky's career -- is central to the The Fighter's successful dynamic. The movie is as much about a big family's struggle to survive its dysfunctionality as it is about boxing. Actually, if the pull of the classic fight movie genre weren't so great and the fact-based boxing success story weren't so central, this would really be more about family. And it's a matriarchy. Stronger than either brother, it often seems, is their hard-faced, tight-bodied, chain-smoking mother, Alice (Melissa Leo) -- whose seven grown daughters seem perpetually lined up behind her like a Greek chorus. This is a family family. Nobody ever leaves. The father, Alice's husband George (Jack McGee) is always there too, a passionate commentator, standing a little apart ready to express both sides of the issue. Behind the family is the greater family of working-class Lowell to cheer Micky on and welcome Dicky back when he returns from eight months in jail for assault and impersonating an officer.

And then there's acquired family. Micky is joined by his pretty, sweet, but tough and foul-mouthed new girlfriend, college dropout turned bar lady Charlene (Amy Adams, another actor in a committed, surprising performance). Charlene has to fight hard to be heard and accepted. The multiple Ward women mock her and abuse her. But she holds her own and that means she becomes family too.

Another element is the external observer represented by an HBO crew shooting Dicky and his interactions both with the family and the crack house where Alice knows he's living though she pretends not to. Dicky thinks it's all good, and boasts they're making a movie about his comeback. In fact they're shooting a film about the effects of crack addiction, a topic The Fighter itself has things to say about. It also has plenty to say about the effect of media on boxing and on how people in general see themselves. It shows how ESPN manipulates fights to highlight boxers it favors, and how managers and promoters hand-pick combatants to smooth the upward paths of their favorites. It may seem Steve Silver, Scott Tamasy, and the other writers on screenplay were doling out generic material from a true story, but Russell manipulates all the elements of individuals and groups, the claustrophobic blood ties and the big outside world, into a very coherent whole. The structure does favor box office attractiveness.

To give the movie a more crowd-pleasing Rocky ending, screen action ends with Micky's victory over an unknown called Neary instead of going on to his subsequent more famous bouts with Arturo Gatti. Russell does a lot of interesting and independent stuff along the way though, making the ourselves-against-the-world issues really compelling and weaving in much good detail. For example, as Richard Brody points out with understandable admiration, Russell uses the real Ward's real policeman-turned-coach Mickey O'Keefe to play himself -- a significant, ever-present role -- rather than an actor, incorporating other real people along the way in lesser roles, such as (briefly) Sugar Ray Leonard.

Some people love boxing flicks; others can't stand them. Some seize on an over-the-top performance like Bale's as great acting; others call it top grade Virginia honey-dipped ham. Some people may be tired of all the working class Boston area dramas that the efforts of Damon, Afflick, Lehane, Eastwood, et al. have been tirelessly bringing to the screen. These reactions will skew reviews. But there's box office security in this material. After I ♥ [Heart] Huckabees tanked at the box office Russell, like the defeated Micky Ward, may have felt down for the count. It's six years since that film. Russell isn't quite as much in his element, maybe, as he was in Flirting with Disaster or Three Kings, but he shows he's a good filmmaker, and the many nominations and good ticket sales won't do him or his fine cast any harm at all.

One big issue is whether Micky should accept a promoter's offer to let him train full-time away from the family. It's a golden opportunity, but Micky is anything but a loner and he's rudderless without the clan.

The movie's full of conflicts great and small, but a crucial turning point's where two key players are separated: Dicky's jail time. We can't tell you how that goes but it contains one of several key surprises (which aren't tricky: they happened). Jail time included, Dicky's never put away, screen-wise. He and Micky have a big visiting hours fight, and Dicky/Bale does a big grandstanding scene when the HBO film about him gets shown to the jail inmates. But symbolically, the movie is saying: whoa! Let's stop a minute. This movie is about Micky. And this is one of the places where Mark Wahlberg's dedication (and years of boxing training) and his essential simpatico quality start to take over the movie and make it his.

This is a wonderful role for half a dozen good actors, and that's enough of a reason to go and see any film, but there are plenty more. If The Fighter isn't one of the best American movies of the year, I can't figure out why. What I have no trouble seeing is that it's a crowd-pleaser that has a lot in it to please the cinephile.

The Fighter has six Golden Globe nominations and some good Oscar possibilities. It opened in US theaters December 17, 2010.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.


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