Three stars for Conan Hayes and occasionally Jordan Osterhof. Conan and his character pull this film from the unthinkable, unwatchable disaster it is.
Punch. The telltale name suggests you will get quite a literate intellectual and emotional punch delivered just to your door, with no delay.
Do the producers get off on the violence they bring on screen? How many more hate crimes do we have to depict in such meticulous snd thought-out detail, how many more scenes of despicable fights, misery and human atrocities do we have to stuff the cinematic legacy with? The blood gushing out, the bone breaking fist fights, the heinous rape with no warning, any other monstrosity that comes to mind? Rest assured, it's in this film.
I believe LGBTQ+ representation on film should be done cognizant of what came before, as well as how the content being produced influences the present what it insinuates. Upon watching "Punch" I can hardly imagine the idea behind the work, other than bringing some good-old hardcore violence, yet again making the queer people watching and everyone else involved feel awful. Why? And while the small-town homophobic gore plot has already been used in a million other productions, there is a way to depict such struggle (emotional and physical!) without imposing on the viewer the gut-wrenching scenery for most of the movie.
Living in such environments is extremely isolating and emotionally debilitating, which unfortunately is not nearly shown in "Punch". The sweet openly gay Maori student enjoys his life in a remote hut, frequently walking around the town not caring what other people think. He finds a friend in a macho competitive boxing highschooler. While the nature is breathtaking and there is great chemistry between the lead actors, the film is broken down by choppy and redundant cinematography.
I wish this movie showed an endearing love story of two young teens exploring the world in spite of the constraints of a close-minded reality, but it fails to connect the dots.
