Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Maurice O'Carroll
Starring: Sinead O'Riordan, John Connors, Ben Condron, Ciara Berkeley,
Chrissie Cronin, Frank Prendergast
In the 1940s and '50s heyday of film noir, the world of boxing was often
deployed as a backdrop for tales of corruption, usually involving a
fighter weighing up whether to go along with a rigged fight.
Writer/director Maurice O'Carroll's Swing Bout is a throwback to such movies, though it's set in the very modern
milieu of the increasingly popular sport of women's boxing.
Swing Bout stands out from other boxing movies in that we never see a boxing
ring, with the entre movie playing out in the backstage bowels of an arena
(Cork's Páirc Uí Chaoimh). The title refers to an impromptu fight held at a
moment's notice to fill a TV schedule if gaps arise due to scheduled
fights finishing more quickly than anticipated. Eagerly awaiting such an
opportunity is young English boxer Toni (Ciara Berkeley), who is so down on her luck that she can't even
afford her fare home if she doesn't get to fight.
Toni receives a combo jab of good and bad news from her
manager Emma (Sinead O'Riordan). The good news is a gap has opened that
will allow her to fight rising star Vickie (Chrissie Cronin). The
bad news is the fight promoters - brothers Jack (Ben Condron) and
Micko (Frank Prendergast) - have insisted that Toni go down in
the second round. What Emma doesn't tell her fighter is that she also
stands to profit from her humiliation, having bet a considerable sum of
money on her fall.
This is but one subplot in a film that apes the ensemble dramas of
Robert Altman as it ducks and weaves between various characters and
their own dramas. Micko finds himself in trouble with the police when a
kidnapping he sanctioned takes a fatal turn. Young boxer Mary (Megan Haly) tries to put on a brave front after taking a bad beating in the ring,
leaving her with potentially dangerous head trauma. Emma's partner Gary
(Gerard Kearney) attempts to snag constantly interrupted
interviews with the stars of the night for his YouTube channel. Jack
tries his sleazy best to rekindle an old not-so-romantic romance with a
long disinterested Emma.
An Altman-esque ensemble drama set around a boxing event sounds like a
winner, but Swing Bout suffers from some underwhelming bouts on its supporting card that
only serve to distract from the main event. Toni's moral dilemma may be
a noir cliché, but how she deals with it is still the film's most
interesting subplot. That's largely down to Berkeley's quietly compelling performance. While every other character
shouts the place down, Toni is mostly silent and withdrawn, her head
filled with a combination of troubled thoughts and the grizzle voiceover
of actor John Connors as a foul-mouthed motivational
podcaster. Swing Bout is at its most engaging when it's focussed on Toni and her
thoughts, Berkeley's face selling the young boxer's inner turmoil. It's
a tribute to the relative newcomer's talent that we're sucked into
caring about which path Toni decides to take even if it's a plot we've
seen before.
If only the film itself were similarly invested in Toni. Too much time
is spent with the supporting characters, many of which are cartoonish
stereotypes more representative of '70s America than modern day Ireland,
all garish pimp suits and elaborate facial hair. The subplots are
half-baked and barely resolved, introduced via clunky dialogue in an
attempt to get the viewer up to speed. The effect is like skipping
forward to the season finale of an evening soap opera.
The one supporting character that holds our interest is Vickie, who
presents herself as confident and cocky in public, but suffers something
close to a breakdown behind the scenes, confessing to her trainer/father
(Johnny Elliott) that she's actually terrified of the prospect of
facing Toni, who has a reputation for being a "mad yoke." Cronin and
Elliott play this father/daughter drama in a genuinely affecting way,
turning a stock villain into a three-dimensional figure, much like
how Creed II handled Ivan Drago and his son.
Such moments are all too rare in a movie that can't settle on one
compelling narrative. Swing Bout is capped off with one hell of a final misstep as it tries to be
too clever for its own good and delivers a climactic bait and switch
that falls flat. As any good boxing promoter will tell you, sometimes
it's best to just give the public what they want, even if it is a
cliché.
Swing Bout is in Irish cinemas
from September 20th. A UK release has yet to be announced.
