Punch

In a seaside small town, 17-year-old Jim is an aspiring boxer, training for his 1st professional bout. HIs coach is his father Stan, whose boxing gym has only Jim as its client, his day job is disapppearing, and (unknown to Jim) is dying of cancer. Mostly Jim sees his father as a repeated drunk, and he gets enticed to switch coaches.

Jim is also distracted by his girlfriend, who keeps wanting more of his time. But in his training runs, he meets becomes mates with Whetu, a Maori living on his own in a shack. Openly gay, Whetu is bullied, harassed, and worse, and wants to leave town immediately upon finishing school. While Jim spends a lot of time with Whelan, Jim can't stand up for, or defend him. As Jim prepares for his fight, he has to navigate his feelings towards his father, his girlfriend, and his new mate.

The scenery is nice, and the lead role is well acted. Also, as Whelan complains, the "straight boy" keeps going around shirtless, showing off his tempting body. There may be a bit too many training scenes, at the expense of more character development. Still, a decent gay coming-of-age story.

It can be hard to be gay no matter where you are. Conservative or Moderate and even liberal, small minds make you want to leave. In this small town jobs are disappearing by the second so the father does what he can to help his son (Jim) get free via boxing. Though in a backwards way. Jim is becoming strong of mind but he is still naive and he is learning who he is what he wants likes making videos. Whetu is good, artistic and edged due to how the world treats him due to his sexuality. And the mistakes we make that lead to bigger consequences even when we try to do good, survive and just be emotionally well and free.

This movie is about the attempt to persevere and the drive to figure yourself out even when horrible things are ocurring around you. To find the path and walk it to the other side and when you get there to breath air that tastes like your first drink of water. But sometimes we don't get there. Or we don't get there the way we originally thought we would.

My first problem was the enormous difficulty I had in believing for even a nanosecond that Conan Hayes playing Whetu was a Maori. The second was imagining that twenty six year old Jordan Oosterhof as Jim Richardson was a seventeen year old boxer. Yes, he was fit and did a good impression of punching to a lay person like me but his pretty face, with its unbroken nose, was completely unconvincing.

The other unconvincing thing was the burgeoning friendship between Whetu and Jim. That Jim put his arm round Whetu in front of small-minded townsfolk just didn't compute. Even more so when this gave Ron leverage over him.

Tim Roth as Dad gave a good performance but what else what would we have expected?

The cast tried their best with a mediocre script that just didn't gel with the supposed characters of the players. Lyrical outbursts were just not appropriate to the personalities of the situation of a small hick town.

As the film rushed to its conclusion, few loose ends were resolved. Arson, betting, breach of contract, imminent death, relationships. Everything was left in the air. While we were wondering about this, the film ended with the performance of a song of such cloying sentimentality that I nearly gagged.

So, there were a few good moments but most of the film was incoherent. I cannot really recommend it.

I am impressed by the allegory of fighting to get out, of your hometown, your surroundings, that which is known. Jordan Oosterhof who stirs the same feelings Matt Damon did 30 years ago fights to win and as a girlfriend says, he is a beast. Running nude on a beach, he encounters Colin Hayes, half Maori and all gay. Encountering a jellyfish, he renders first aid to our fallen hero. Things proceed between them as expected.

Antihero Tim Roth of Pulp Fiction fame is a dad who needs his son to win but as a drunk, he has limitations. Local gymowners want a piece of son Jim and a piece of Maori Waitu too so they conspire to coach Jim to win for them. Dad has an issue and tries to stand up for his son. He doesn't need to escape so he does. Maybe Waitu waiting? Maybe not? Freedom.

Punch certainly felt polished and pretty well developed. The cinematography and ambience worked for the film - it was actually quite beautiful.

What stops this film from being successful in my eyes was a slightly confused narrative alongside a dubious script. Without going into details, much of the characters' dialogue really feels like it needed a rewrite - it was awkward and a bit jarring in many parts and the actors struggled to make it believable.

Some characters and plot points felt undeveloped, and that might be due to the fact that the central story (the boxing match) altogether wasn't strong or compelling enough to carry the weight of the film all by itself.

All in all it was still a wonderful film and I would definitely encourage others to watch.