- Actors: Thomas Haden Church, Terrence Howard, Johanna Braddy
- Director: Knate Lee
- Format: Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen
- Language: English
- Subtitles: English
- Number of discs: 1
- Rated: Not Rated
- Studio: Well Go USA
- Release Date: November 15, 2016
- Run Time: 89 minutes
The acting is so
phenomenal in Cardboard Boxer that it
makes the laziness of the screenplay all the more shameful. Rather than relying
on the brutal realism of the situation, first-time screenwriter and director
Knate Lee (who previously worked as cinematographer and producer on the Jackass movies under the name of Knate
Gwaltney) forces contrived situations onto his characters. No matter how
powerful Thomas Haden Church’s
performance is or how admirable the message of Lee’s screenplay might be, no
amount of the film’s strengths can make up for the emotional manipulation used
to get that message across.
The film follows
a simple-minded homeless man named Willie (Thomas
Haden Church),
struggling to survive the winter cold on the streets of Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Willie is kindhearted,
though there are subtle indications that he may not be mental stable. Mostly he
just seems lonely, always in search of some type of friend. He temporarily
finds this in a disabled war veteran named Pinky (Boyd Holbrook), although his
main source of companionship comes from young girl’s diary that he discovers
while dumpster diving. Learning cursive just so he can continue to read the
entries, Willie even writes letters in response that he sends soaring off of a
building rooftop in the form of paper airplanes.
Willie’s longing
for friends along with his desperate desire to get out of the cold for an
evening leads him to be coerced into fighting other homeless men for money. A
group of over-privileged college students (led by Rhys Wakefield) convince
Willie that they are his friend, which leads him into a pattern of violence
that he doesn’t seem to understand fully. This new practice doesn’t sit well
with a former resident of the streets known as Pope (Terence Howard), who works
as a cab driver in the neighborhood.
There are
several of these sub-plots, though the film is really just a slow-paced
character study of Willie. It is a timely narrative, though not necessarily
original. A similar character study taking place in New
York called Time Out of Mind
came out a couple years ago, starring Richard Gere, and the large budget Hollywood feature, The
Soloist, also took place on Skid Row. Even though this is not the first
time the material has been covered, that would have easily been forgiven due to
the quality of the acting. That is, if it weren’t for the manufactured
emotional ending that even acting can’t quite save.
Entertainment Value:
6/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6.5/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 0/10
No comments:
Post a Comment