Girlfight
Synopsis: A violent teenager finds an outlet for her anger when she starts training as a boxer.
Technical Details
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Review
Karyn Kusama’s film about a girl boxer is simple yet very effective. Diana Guzman is an unhappy and violent teenager with an abusive single father who forces her brother Tiny to take box lessons even though he hates it, and denies the same privilege to Diana because she is a woman. But the two siblings decide to trade places without telling their dad, and with this
Once Diana starts training she finds that boxing gives her an outlet for her anger and helps her define the kind of person she wants to be as a young woman entering adulthood. After a rough start with her trainer the two will form a strong bond. She will also find love in one of the aspiring boxers that trains with her. And when the time comes to begin to fight she will discover the feeling of being good at something.
Girlfight is a low budget independent film with a cast of mostly unknown actors (not counting the appearance of legendary independent writer/director John Sayles as Diana’s school teacher). Michelle Rodriguez is fantastic as Diana in her first acting job. With the exception of some plot devices that are a bit difficult to swallow (like all the “gender blind” stuff, which is just an excuse to make Diana have to fight her boyfriend) the film is entertaining and really well done.
©2008 by Miguel Grinberg
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