Day of the Fight

Underdog sports films are my jam. I prefer them to watching real sports - perhaps hypocritical and silly but it's the truth. However, do we really need another one? And a boxing one no less? How many of these do we need for crying out loud?? Goddamn it. It turns out we need, you need, "Day of the Fight," a new film which came out the end of last year. Written and directed by Jack Huston, "Day of the Fight" is his debut and it's a knockout (see what I did there). Michael Pitt (who was one of the psychopathic kids in "Funny Games") stars as Mike Flannigan, a down and out boxer looking for redemption. Toss "Rocky," together with "On the Waterfront," throw in an "8 Mile" wardrobe with a cool R&B-Jazz soundtrack, oh, and film it in arty black and white, make it jump rope and dance around a bit, pow, you have, "Day of the Fight." Yes, it might be by the numbers, but it goes all 12 rounds. The soundtrack, amazing. And Michael Pitt, who looks like a sexy-ugly Paul Newman is so good, I wish he had been nominated for all the awards. I simply loved his performance. Huston's dialogue is always good and a lot of the time it's great; delivered with panache by Pitt. Joe Pesci is one of the producers. He, Steve Buscemi, and Ron Perlman also have roles in this; just another three reasons you should see it. This one punches way above its weight. Catch it streaming, in rep theatre, or from your local video store.