Day of the Fight is a tedious boxing drama that fails to land its punches

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As someone who grew up in the heart of Texas during the golden age of country music, I can confidently say that Gary Allan is one of my all-time favorite musicians. There’s just something about his raw, gritty voice and haunting melodies that resonates deep within me.

As someone who grew up as a country music fan in Texas during the mid-2000s, it’s no surprise that Gary Allan is one of my all-time favorite musicians. His soulful voice and poignant songs like “Songs About Rain” and “Man to Man” resonated with me deeply. The raw, gritty quality in his singing adds a tangible element to his music that I find captivating.

As a gamer, I’d put it this way: Gary Allan doesn’t just sing his worn-out tones; they ooze a lifetime of heartache. Instead of wrapping up the melancholic tune with a final verse that breaks the sad vibe, songs like “Today” dive headfirst into sorrow. Even tracks like “It Ain’t the Whiskey” resonate with vocal anguish that many country singers can only dream of evoking. I bet Jack Huston, in his directorial debut Day of the Fight, would have appreciated a dash of that haunting Gary Allan magic too. On paper, this film aspires to blend the melancholy of Inside Llewyn Davis with the raw intensity of Raging Bull. However, on-screen, it falls short, offering a sterile experience that’s far too polished to capture its gritty intentions.

Boxer Mike Flannigan (played by Michael Pitt) has been out of the ring for quite some time now, approximately ten years according to Huston’s script. A chilling revelation from a doctor warns that another fight could potentially trigger a fatal aneurysm, yet despite this, the story Day of the Fight opens with Flannigan preparing to step back into the ring 12 hours before his match at Madison Square Garden. As he counts down the minutes until the big fight, Mike takes a leisurely stroll around his old neighborhood in New York City.

Through these interactions, Huston’s storyline brings him face-to-face with several acquaintances from his past, such as his uncle (Steve Buscemi) and his father (Joe Pesci), who is now suffering from dementia. The narrative often leaves a sense of overly organized neatness, yet the movie aims to be a reflective piece of cinema. The black-and-white color scheme and focus on somber past events, like Flannigan’s troubled marriage and career decline after a fatal car accident, underscore this intent. Unfortunately, Huston tends to clarify everything too explicitly instead of leaving room for intrigue and mystery in the viewers’ minds.

In the movie “Day of the Fight,” director Huston frequently inserts flashbacks to the past, which already creates a challenge for the narrative. Instead of allowing Flannigan’s torment to be imagined by the audience, these flashbacks are shown in detail, undermining Flannigan’s enigmatic and somber image. The problem is exacerbated when these flashbacks are accompanied by voice-over narration, which Huston uses extensively to explain Flannigan’s regrettable past. This narrative approach is heavy-handed and fails to develop characters like Patrick (John Magaro) who become mere vehicles for recounting Flannigan’s history. As a result, “Day of the Fight” is overrun by this background information, hindering its attempts to achieve neo-realism.

Additionally, I found myself eagerly anticipating some tension or strife during the film’s “Day of the Fight,” but instead, it was an unusual movie that featured somber expressions yet only displayed acts of kindness among the characters. Flannigan laments his inability to break free from his past and fears being unliked by others. However, despite these concerns, he is welcomed warmly at his favorite restaurant, interacts amicably with everyone he meets, and even receives free rides from taxi drivers. Remarkably, even his ex-wife Jessica (Nicolette Robinson) seems eager to accompany him on a walk without much persuasion.

Occasionally, it appears that Flannigan inhabits the town depicted in “Life’s a Happy Song,” not the unforgiving environment where he can’t evade his wrongdoings. A more impactful adaptation of “Day of the Fight” could have emphasized the contrast between this setting and Flannigan’s melancholic, suicidal state of mind. Unfortunately, the drama unfolds in a shallow manner, making the lack of conflict among the characters in “Day of the Fight” feel monotonous. This issue aligns perfectly with the strangely polished world that director John Huston and cinematographer Peter Simonite created for this film. In this production, Flannigan resides in a sanitized 1940s New York City void of dirt or character.

The video quality and background settings in this production seem more fitting for YouTube videos from 2008 rather than motion pictures of 2024, particularly those reminiscent of gritty ’70s New York dramas. However, the most glaring issue with “Day of the Fight” isn’t just this technical aspect. The main problem lies in Michael Pitt’s lackluster performance. With a hoodie always on his shoulders and a perpetually gloomy demeanor, Pitt often appears like Holt McCallany impersonating Jesse Pinkman. His acting style primarily involves shouting lines, as demonstrated when he portrays Flannigan trying to persuade Jessica to take a walk.

In simpler terms, Michael Pitt doesn’t seem to fit the role of the troubled boxer in “Day of the Fight.” His performance lacks intensity and personality, possibly due to the script focusing more on exposition. Additionally, his physicality and acting skills appear subpar compared to experienced actors like Magaro and Perlman. Moreover, Pitt’s portrayal of Flannigan is more mildly grumpy than deeply angst-ridden. This is problematic because decades of turmoil don’t seem to show on him. A particularly awkward scene involves Flannigan explaining James Brown to a young Black girl, which comes across as uncomfortable and out of place in the world of boxing cinema. Overall, Pitt’s performance fails to create a memorable leading man character in “Day of the Fight.

The title Day of the Fight seems intended as a contemplation of mortality and one’s legacy, but regrettably, Huston succumbs to emotional and instructive tendencies that are excessive. Despite Joe Pesci’s remarkable talent, it fails to save this film. The opportunity for generating poignant emotions from witnessing Pesci portray Flannigan’s silent and wheelchair-bound father is seemingly effortless. However, Huston and composer Ben MacDiarmid overpower this sequence with a heavy-handed and creatively barren soundtrack. This film’s shortcomings not only undermine Pesci’s acting prowess (and rely too much on a sharp visual style) but also falls short of creating cinema as deeply sorrowful as Gary Allan’s “Watching Airplanes.

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2024-12-01 18:15