Jim is preparing for his first professional fight but begins to rethink his life's trajectory and his sexuality after tangling with Whetu, a gay Maori boy who spends his days in an old shack down by the beach.
Trailer
Reviews
bennyaha
4
By bennyaha
Punch is a nice film that is really needed in today for New Zealand Boxing which currently battles Homophobia and toxic masculinity. Jordan Oosterhof who plays the boxer has obviously done well to maintain his fitness for the film but the true star of this movie is Conan Hayes. The writing with Conan Hayes was great and you can tell he did amazing job with is with portraying a gay teenage Maori boy in a small town who sells his body to make money.
Negatives One major problem i had is the lack of trigger warning before seeing the film for the rape scene in the movie. On the technical side of things, you can tell the film makers did not get a boxing consultant, advisor or an expert for the little things that make a major difference eg, lack of weigh in scene, officials not wearing the right attire, glove size, weight division has the lead did not look like he was a welterweight. The lead of the film who plays a 17 year old turning pro is also wouldnt be allowed in modern times, however if he was 18 it would be. On top of that I can tell that the film makers didn't involve the New Zealand LGBT Boxers in the film which also would have been a big difference, especially New Zealand boxing gay judge. The ending felt a bit incomplete. On top of that the Jordan Oosterhof character had a hobby making music videos was editing a video at the end of the film of Conan Hayes using footage from earlier in the film during which Conan Hayes character was alone right before he got raped, on a technical side was a big screw up and a bit out of taste.
Positives The composition of the music was great. The story telling was great. Boxing really played a minor part of the film where the friendship between these two characters were really the main focus of the film. It also addresses issues still affecting LGBT community today especially in small towns and in the sport of boxing. The story behind the two main characters were great and effective.
Overall the movie was nice but had a lot of technical issues especially in the boxing part.
