This blog entry is part of my "movie recommendation site suggestions". Read more about that here.
The Set-Up
Another perfect recommendation from my movie recommendation sites. I was really looking forward to this one, and was not disappointed in the least.
This movie is tight, and I don't just mean in the 90s slang way. It's just 72 minutes long and is essentially in real time. Just look at the clock in the opening and closing shots of the film to know that was intentional.
The real time element and everything about the set and the characters make the atmosphere so palpable. The feeling of being in the shoes of so many transient people who feel like their big break is just one punch (or one something else) away.
The boxing match itself is so exciting. On the audio commentary for the film Martin Scorsese talks about how the match is done so perfectly that he had to be consciously aware to try different methods of filming his fight scenes in Raging Bull because he could never match this movie by trying to copy it.
I'm always interested in seeing all sides of a scenario that aren't normally seen. Particularly I'm interested in times when we take our attention off the stage in some kind of performance and look at the audience. We get so many different and colorful audience members that don't just add to the atmosphere, but I think are crucial to making the whole scene work. I can't express how delighted I was by the man watching in the audience who is also carrying a portable radio and is listening to a baseball game during the fight. The excitement and tension of the fight scene is so perfect because we get cuts to audience members like this at just the right moment to increase or ease the tension in just the right way.
Everything is perfect right up to the end. I'm so delighted when the final line of a film is able to sum up everything the movie was about so perfectly.
Rating: 10/10