The Cut: Sleeper Punch
One of the most intense and surprising psychological thrillers I've witnessed to this year, Orlando Bloom puts in the performance of his career with a stacked cast and a categorically terrifying script.
Film
Punching Above
What is it with these Indie boxing movies this year, huh?
Boxing's long tradition in cinema has never baffled me, but it's never quite hit (pun intended, likely more to come throughout this article). I've found the genre interesting, but never affecting – not until this year. It seems that before now, the vulnerability wasn't there. Strength begot more strength, push gave way to yet more push - and our hero would become superhero, defying the body and somehow not losing his mind.
This year, Heavyweight, and now The Cut - two independent films to tackle the subject - have taken this genre, and the renewed ubiquity of the sport, and magnified it into it's truly dark impulses, exposing the grey areas and no-go zones of the male psyche in the ugly ways. Beyond this kind of filmmaking being vital, to me it's also the peak of what cinema can do to accurately and intimately depict topics we'd rather avoid - especially Men's mental health and trauma. In such a hardened sport as Boxing, cinema feels like the perhaps the only way this conversation can be had - and not a moment too soon.
Bob and Weave
I will say I went into this film trying to have an open mind - but immediately I was skeptical. We start off in a very familiar place, with very familiar stakes, and it will feel as if you're in for a very familiar film for a little bit there - you think you'll know who to root for and who to complain about when the credits roll.
Then, out of absolutely nowhere, and somehow seemingly perfectly obviously, this film takes a turn.
I will not be spoiling it for you, but just know that this film is a Psychological Thriller, it is not a sports movie. It would be right in place with any Midnight Madness programme - and reader, it does not stop steering you into new territory until the very very very very end.
Knockout
In perhaps the most intense, and brilliant, performances of his career, we watch Orlando Bloom literally deteriorate before our eyes. This is no Oscar bait run - this is commitment. A performance that strikes right at the core of what culture is attempting to avoid.
It's easy to tell the story of how men externalise their trauma - because that's the bit we're all witnessing. What's difficult, in this strength-obsessed world, is to acknowledge how men harm themselves, and how little we as onlookers are equipped to deal with it.
We know, too, the enablers, that will see any opportunity to exploit this - and, though inevitable, the madness that can ensue.
Aided by John Turturro to the left and Caitríona Balfe to the right, I don't think I've ever been more stunned by a Bloom performance.
I can't recommend this one enough - in the theatre or when it comes to streaming - for the performances alone, but, as the film progresses, for the visual stylings, too.
Viva Independent Cinema.
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