Punch

I am impressed by the allegory of fighting to get out, of your hometown, your surroundings, that which is known. Jordan Oosterhof who stirs the same feelings Matt Damon did 30 years ago fights to win and as a girlfriend says, he is a beast. Running nude on a beach, he encounters Colin Hayes, half Maori and all gay. Encountering a jellyfish, he renders first aid to our fallen hero. Things proceed between them as expected.

Antihero Tim Roth of Pulp Fiction fame is a dad who needs his son to win but as a drunk, he has limitations. Local gymowners want a piece of son Jim and a piece of Maori Waitu too so they conspire to coach Jim to win for them. Dad has an issue and tries to stand up for his son. He doesn't need to escape so he does. Maybe Waitu waiting? Maybe not? Freedom.

I found the acting and most of the storyline to be very well done, in comparison to what I've seen so far and I've seen many going way back over the years at least this was 80% of the time was entertaining. Definitely a little homophobic a little cheesy. Don't hold your breath for a fairytale ending but everything they promised will come true. You will notice movies bring you in the first 15 minutes or less. Pull up a chair sit back relax get yourself some popcorn. It's a cute little coming-of-age gay Romance movie two boys against the world, love finding its way with boys finding each other. 💞

Punch certainly felt polished and pretty well developed. The cinematography and ambience worked for the film - it was actually quite beautiful.

What stops this film from being successful in my eyes was a slightly confused narrative alongside a dubious script. Without going into details, much of the characters' dialogue really feels like it needed a rewrite - it was awkward and a bit jarring in many parts and the actors struggled to make it believable.

Some characters and plot points felt undeveloped, and that might be due to the fact that the central story (the boxing match) altogether wasn't strong or compelling enough to carry the weight of the film all by itself.

All in all it was still a wonderful film and I would definitely encourage others to watch.

My first problem was the enormous difficulty I had in believing for even a nanosecond that Conan Hayes playing Whetu was a Maori. The second was imagining that twenty six year old Jordan Oosterhof as Jim Richardson was a seventeen year old boxer. Yes, he was fit and did a good impression of punching to a lay person like me but his pretty face, with its unbroken nose, was completely unconvincing.

The other unconvincing thing was the burgeoning friendship between Whetu and Jim. That Jim put his arm round Whetu in front of small-minded townsfolk just didn't compute. Even more so when this gave Ron leverage over him.

Tim Roth as Dad gave a good performance but what else what would we have expected?

The cast tried their best with a mediocre script that just didn't gel with the supposed characters of the players. Lyrical outbursts were just not appropriate to the personalities of the situation of a small hick town.

As the film rushed to its conclusion, few loose ends were resolved. Arson, betting, breach of contract, imminent death, relationships. Everything was left in the air. While we were wondering about this, the film ended with the performance of a song of such cloying sentimentality that I nearly gagged.

So, there were a few good moments but most of the film was incoherent. I cannot really recommend it.

Jim (Jordan Oosterhof) has been trained by his father Stan Richardson (Tim Roth) since boyhood to be a boxer. The girls are all after him. He gets entangled with a gay Maori named Whetu (Conan Hayes).

I don't like Jim initially although one can claim that he's just being a guy. The annoying teenage boy has never been my favorite trope. Then he changes and that is an interesting journey. There are bumps in the road for the story and not all of it is good. He and his father surprise me. Tim Roth has limited screen time, but he shines whenever he's on. I do have some questions about the story and that keeps me from truly loving this.