The Cut, 2024.
Directed by Sean Ellis.
Starring Orlando Bloom, Catriona Balfe, John Turturro, Clair Dunne, Gary Beadle
SYNOPSIS:
A retired boxer is given the chance of a title fight, but only if he can make the required weight.
The tension of gearing up for a big fight is given extra intensity in this nerve wracking exploration of childhood trauma mixed with a punishing wight loss regime. Orlando Bloom’s boxer was at the top of his game ten years ago, and was within a whisker of getting his hands on the title belt.
However, some unseen pain stopped him in his tracks and he never recovered. In the gym which he set up with partner and manager Caitlin (Catriona Balfe) he hides his pain and ignores the jibes of ‘has-been’ from the local young boxer toughs. He seems content until a new opportunity presents itself with a new shot at the title. According to the sports agent (Gary Beadle) everyone loves a comeback story, and before they know it, the boxer and Caitlin are off to Vegas to train up for the fight.
One big problem though – the boxer is well overweight. He only has six days to lose 26 pounds, a superhuman effort, that also seems distinctly dangerous. In any case, tough times deserve tough measures and John Turturro’s Boz is the no-nonsense coach the boxer needs after it soon becomes apparent that Caitlin loves him too much to get him to train hard enough. What follows is a powerful journey through not only the gruelling regimen that fighters might have to go through to drop the weight, but also an emotive trip across traumatic memory.
Flashback scenes of the boxer as a young boy in Northern Ireland with his mother (Claire Dunne) showcase the trapped pain and agony that the present day boxer taps into in his fight. The past story unravels in all its horror as the training goes on and the boxer’s trip into himself gets darker and ever more emotive.
Turturro’s Boz plays into this brilliantly. Making the boxer do the hard work and never giving him the chance to take it easy. He’s occasionally dead pan funny as well, but mostly this is an intense and painful workout.
Bloom and Turturro are excellent in their battles against each other. Bloom never shies away from anything in this hard-won record of channeling internal rage, documenting the blood, sweat and sick that goes into making ‘the cut’. Ultimately, it is, as director Ellis has stated, a ‘boxing movie with no actual boxing.’ Just as the movie Heavyweight, which premiered at Raindance, grappled with pre-fight nerves and the business of putting on a fight, so too does The Cut.
Concentrating on the internal struggles that have built up over an entire life, The Cut is a genuinely moving workout. Probably not for the squeamish, The Cut takes a serious look at just what it takes to get into shape physically and emotionally for a match.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert W Monk
