Southpaw

The last time we saw Jake Gyllenhaal on the big screen was in Nightcrawler, where he played the wide-eyed and nearly skeletal antihero, Louis Bloom.  It was a performance that should have earned an Oscar nomination, but sadly he was looked over.  Now he's back in Southpaw, and he looks much more muscular, toned and dangerous.  And while his performance here does not stand out quite as much, the transformation he has undergone between the two films is remarkable.

Southpaw tells a very familiar story of a professional boxer who hits rock bottom, and then tries to work his way back up to the top.  It's the kind of movie where you can pretty much predict every story beat just by watching the trailer.  And yet, it's an effective work.  Gyllenhaal has not only transformed himself physically for playing the boxer Billy Hope (now there's a name only a screenwriter could love), but he does manage to give a very raw and emotional performance.  But the real find here is child actress Oona Laurence, who plays his 10-year-old daughter, Leila.  It's one of the best child performances I have seen in a long time.  She's truly in the moment from the instant she's up on the screen, and never comes across like she is acting.  She has to go through some very hard and emotionally heavy scenes, and she pulls each one off effortlessly.  I really hope this kid goes on to big things, but even if she doesn't, she will always have this breakthrough performance.  The chemistry that the two actors share as father and daughter overcomes any predictable plot contrivances that make up the script.

As the film opens, Billy is the reigning boxing champ, but he is nearing the end of his career.  His wife, Maureen (Rachel McAdams) is worried about him, especially after the fight he goes through at the start of the film goes into extended rounds, and though he wins, he is beat, bloody and barely conscious by the end.  Maureen wants Billy to take a break out of fear he will end up punch-drunk if he keeps at it.  Billy grew up in a child's services home, which is where he met Maureen in the first place.  He is surrounded by friends and supporters, who happen to enjoy his wealthy lifestyle and lavish home.  They are the ones who encourage him to continue fighting.  There is also a brash new young fighter climbing the professional ranks named Miguel Escobar (Miguel Gomez), who is chomping at the bit to fight Billy, and frequently disrupts his press conferences with taunts and challenges to fight him in the ring. 

Tragedy strikes in Billy's life when he is attending a charity event.  While walking through the hotel lobby with his wife, Miguel shows up and starts taunting him again, this time making personal insults toward Maureen.  An actual brawl breaks out between the two fighters right there, and in the end, a gunshot goes off from somewhere in the middle of the chaos.  Maureen is fatally wounded, and this sends Billy into a spiraling and violent depression.  He loses custody of young Leila, who is sent to live in a home until Billy can get a job and put his life back together.  But fighting is the only thing that he knows how to do.  He takes a job helping out at a local gym run by a retired fighter named Tick (Forest Whitaker), who tries to help troubled kids get off the streets.  It is here that Billy will try to put his shattered life together, and win back the respect of his daughter.

Southpaw may be predictable in its plotting, but the script is a little better than you would expect, as the drama has some truth for it.  Yes, some moments are played up rather large for the sake of melodrama, but whenever Billy and Leila are together, the movie creates a wonderful relationship as both are shattered by the loss of their wife/mother, and realize that it was Maureen who always kept things running in their home.  Billy has never had to do anything but bring money in from his fighting.  Now he has to not only win his daughter's trust and prove to the court system that he can support her on his own, but he also has to truly raise her for the first time.  They had always been best friends, now he has to truly be a father, and there are some great moments as this realization dawns on him.  Again, as good as Gyllenhaal is, it is young Oona Laurence who really demands our attention.  She gives a mature performance, but not so much so that she comes across as a kid imitating an adult.  She acts like a kid who is being forced to grow up a lot faster than she or anyone else would like.

What also saves the film from falling into the pit of predictability is the direction by Antoine Furqua.  When he is filming the fight scenes, they are energetic, sometimes putting us right in the action by having the boxers seemingly pummeling the camera.  He also does a great job contrasting the different sides of Billy's life.  In the ring, he is a confident and crazed fighter with blood dripping from his mouth by the end of the bout.  Outside, his head is hung low, almost like a child.  He is not good communicating with those he is not comfortable with, and when he must face a Judge in a courtroom or a case worker at the home where his daughter is, he shrinks and almost does not want to be seen.  These moments feel real, and show us how some fighters may behave when dealt with emotional blows instead of physical ones.

Southpaw is a familiar, but effective film.  It doesn't always hit the right notes (a subplot concerning a troubled kid Billy bonds with at the gym feels like a cheap shot to wring tears, especially how it is concluded), but the performances and the realism of the fights make it worth watching.  Not every movie needs to be original to be successful, and not every movie about boxing needs to be Rocky, Raging Bull or Million Dollar Baby. 

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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