Poor Boy's Game

This is the film Clint Eastwood wishes he could have directed. I just saw Poor Boy's Game at MoMa (March 13) and I am appalled that it is not getting a theatrical release in the US, but going straight to DVD. There is a huge market for this film in America. Clement Virgo is a brilliant director. The drama is clever, suspenseful and both Glover and Sutherland are Oscar contenders! The young Ross Sutherland holds his own against the always-amazing Glover, and some of the most epic movie moments of 2007 is when they have their "talk" overlooking the ocean towards the end of the film. The movie has everything (crime, suspense, sex, redemption, class and race conflict, romance, boxing) without becoming predictable and the final 20 minutes are so worth it! Not the mention the music by Byron Wong. Just amazing. LINDA SAETRE

This was an average sort of movie. It didn't leave any lasting impressions despite an interesting premise and gritty storyline. Poor Boy's Game is a movie built around a boxing match, but its most powerful scenes involve the ongoing human drama. I still found this a bit all over the place, the characters underdeveloped and their motivation vague.

The story is ultimately about forgiveness and redemption following Donnie (Rossif Sutherland) who has just been released from prison after serving 10 a ten year sentence for beating a man so badly he suffered permanent mental disability. Upon his release he goes back to his old crew of familiar (Canadian faces) hard drinking racist A--holes for the most part and then through guilt I suppose agrees to enter into a boxing grudge match that he knows will end either in his loss or death.

The plot gets strange then as Danny Glover agrees to help train Donnie even though he is the man responsible for beating his son. This all culminates into some kind of racial war; churches burn, people are killed in revenge killings and then the big showdown takes place in the ring. The boxing isn't great here either, kinda cheesy as is the ending where both boxers have to work together in the ring.

There is a big Canadian cast attached to this, lots of actors I recognized from assorted TV shows and then Danny Glover. Weird. It has also been filmed and takes place in Halifax but had a feel of one of those movies filmed in Canada but meant to take place in America. 12/1/15

In a racially divided Halifax, former boxer Donnie Rose (Rossif Sutherland) gets paroled after ten years in prison. George (Danny Glover) is the father of his victim who was beaten to brain damage. During the last few years, Donnie had stopped his violence and racial anger. He returns to a hero's welcome and a party with his racist family. Professional boxer Ossie Parris (Flex Alexander) decides to get revenge by challenging him to a boxing match. Despite acrimony from both sides of the racial divide, Donnie and George form an unlikely partnership.

This is a Canadian indie. As a boxing movie, it isn't that much. In the end, this is not really a sports movie. It is more about forgiveness, acceptance, and racial tolerance. Even more interestingly, it delves into the racially divided world of Halifax. There are moments of real power, but the movie is a bit too meandering. Rossif is too passive although I do get the acting choice. The pacing has too many slow spots. As for the ending, I like the starting move, but I didn't like where it goes. There is a lot to like in this.

I haven't had much good to say about films shot in Canada recently, but this is the exception. I hope race relations in Nova Scotia aren't this bad, but the film made me believe each of the characters were real. They all had a depth to them, and as others have mentioned, were all acted very well. It's true that some of this territory has been covered before, but I think it's safe to say nobody saw this particular ending coming quite the way it happened. My last comment is about the boxing scene, which I felt was unique in conveying the impacts of some of the blows. Other recent boxing movies have not had the same effect, for me. I look forward to more films of this calibre.

I was thinking first when i started this movie that it was some crappy low budget flick but it turned out to be one of my favorites it tells the story of how a man with a rough youth can go from a cold hearted scum bag to someone completely reformed and empathetic it is a touching movie and it moves along at a very good pace building up to the climax where the too men step into the ring i would like to see more titles like this and i will definitely be looking to purchase this some time, and the fact that it was filmed in my hometown is kind of cool too it really helps to relate to the movie, all in all i would give this movie a ten out of ten.. it is one of those that you want to see over and over again