Title: Swing Bout
MPA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Maurice O’Carroll
Starring: Ciara Berkeley, Sinead O’Riordan, Ben Condron
Runtime: 1 hr 30 mins

What It Is: Young Tony (Ciara Berkeley) is a fighter looking for a break. We’re backstage at a boxing event, and all hell has broken loose. Tony is told to take a dive, the promoters are probably headed to prison for a laundry list of crimes—including possible murder—and her opponent won’t stop running her mouth, making what Tony’s been ordered to do that much harder. Like a dog without a leash, Tony is restless, ready, and spoiling for a fight.

What We Think: The way Maurice O’Carroll frames this gives the whole film a frantic, hurried energy. Everyone feels on edge, and at any moment you expect a fight to break out backstage before either fighter even makes it to the ring. The ancillary characters are their own powder kegs, ready to explode at the slightest spark.

The acting is sharp and fast-flowing—I loved what the cast brought to the table. This is such a unique spin on a boxing film. Where most focus on the climactic match itself, here we never actually see the action inside the ring.

Our Grade: B-, This plays more like a crime film than a boxing-centered drama—and it works. It lays bare the greedy, seedy underbelly of boxing and sports in general. Tightly wound, and when it finally unravels, the real winners are us, the audience. Chock full of strong filmmaking, this is an easy recommend. So Irish, so breakneck, and so unflinching in its vision of the darkest corners of amateur boxing. Girl fight, indeed.

hd

Amazon Video

Buy: USD 9.99

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