The Huston dynasty has produced so many raw, undeniable talents that its younger members are undoubtedly among the very few “nepo babies” who can still come out of that exhausting discourse unscathed. We may even feel pity for them, sometimes, living as they do in the shadows of so many brilliant relatives. But Jack Huston is only the latest in a series of descendants to show that this legacy seems a blessing rather than a curse, at least in terms of creativity. The grandchild of John Huston, son of Tony, and nephew of Danny and Anjelica, Jack already has a solid career as an actor, which in no way guarantees his abilities as a director. But “Day of the Fight,” his debut feature which premiered in the Orizzonti Extra section of this year’s Venice Film Festival, shows real promise, even if it hides behind several layers of artificiality and some unconvincing touches.
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The low-key quality of the film is its first obvious asset: opting for a template as appealing as that of the boxing movie for your directorial debut is both a smart, sensible choice and one that shows a real love for the movies with a capital M. The beats are well-known, the characters prototypical, the hero, of course, a broken man, but recognizing these tropes is half the joy of these films. Do they have anything to do with reality at all? Who knows — who cares?
Huston also understands that such stories are wonderful vehicles for actors to spill their guts for our enjoyment, both literally and figuratively. Michael Pitt, who has acted alongside Huston in the show Boardwalk Empire, is given the meaty part of Mickey, whose past and present we learn more and more about as the film continues. What initially appears to be any other day in 1980s New York City is progressively revealed to be nothing but: Mikey, our anchor throughout the film, goes door to door visiting the essential people in his life in preparation for his first boxing match in many years. It is a neat storytelling trick: Huston, who also wrote the film’s screenplay, focuses on a brooding character only to show, through the conversations he has with those people on his pilgrimage, the torrent of emotions bubbling underneath the surface. It isn’t a secret that Mikey has been to prison or that he has blood on his hands — he just usually prefers not to talk about it.
The encounters are not all equally convincing, with some characters painted in too broad brushstrokes or certain outbursts of sincerity coming out as cheesy rather than moving. But it’s still lovely to see actors of a certain caliber given the space to show us what they can do: though Steve Buscemi is a regular in this kind of indie context, Ron Perlman more rarely steps away from big productions. Stealing the show, however, as he often does, is John Magaro, a childhood friend of Mickey who has since become a priest. Unlike many of the other men in the film, he can express what he really thinks and feels without using macho codes, which allows Mickey to open up in a lovely scene of background exposition that also feels like a sincere heart-to-heart.
This is also one of the most gorgeous-looking sequences in the film. The black-and-white cinematography by Peter Simonite could be seen as a reference to Martin Scorsese’s own boxing film, “Raging Bull,” but Simonite’s work is much harsher and high contrast. It’s a poetic and evocative look that helps further divorce the film from realism and brings it closer to the realm of fantasy or even the graphic novel. This is much more than a typical day for Mickey, but it is a moment of reckoning. His whole life is flashing before his eyes.
None of the film’s story beats are particularly surprising, but as it moves forward, it becomes increasingly clear that what we are watching is, in fact, a tragedy. Although he may not say it out loud, Mickey knows he will meet his fate in the ring. There are a few clichéd moments and ropey flashbacks, but the neat structure of the film gives it a reassuring grounding that keeps us watching. “Day of the Fight” does not break the mold of the boxing movie, but it does not set out to do so. An homage to a kind of cinema that isn’t made much anymore, it signals a director who understands that a filmmaker does not need a huge budget or a complicated story to make a good film. [B]
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