Boxing and MMA films are and have been the most unique of cinematic entities. Bruised, for example—the new Netflix film starring Halle Berry, where she also makes her directorial debut—impeccably encapsulates what this writer adores about this subgenre of filmmaking.
A sports film, like most genre flicks, is often about so much more than what occurs during those sporting moments that provide the spine for the narrative. That’s why boxing and UFC-type fighting flicks, from Warrior to Creed, can be so embraced by audiences who may not even care for the sport outside the celluloid. Although the sport has grown on me, particularly in the last year or so, in general, the idea of two people beating the crap out of each other sounds more barbaric than entertaining. Yet, films about this special breed of athletes, have always grabbed by the lapels and never let go, long after the credits roll.
Bruised finds Berry as Jackie Justice, a former on-the-rise UFC star, who after a ten-straight victory run to commence her career, she embarrassingly got destroyed in the first round of a title fight that spurred her to climb out of the octagon cage in utter terror. She withdrew to a life without professional fighting. Although her boyfriend/manager Desi (Adan Canto) keeps prodding her to return to the sport she excelled at, it’s been years and she would rather clean other people’s toilets than face her demons and professionally train to return to the ring.
That all changes when Desi coyly gets Justice to go toe-to-toe with an underground MMA fighter when the grappler says the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person. A promoter who goes by the one-word moniker Immaculate (Shamier Anderson) happens to be there and is supremely impressed by what he sees in Jackie. If she trains in his gym with his trainer Buddhakan (Sheila Atim), he believes he could get her back in front of the bright lights of the UFC.
The compelling nature of the story without question stems from the full-length feature debut of screenwriter Michelle Rosenfarb. She has crafted a stable of souls that are gritty, raw, and reflective of a populous who needs to be inspired after almost two years of societal darkness. It’s believable, too in that anything that occurs throughout Bruised feels organic and not forced or that it keeps out of nowhere or worse… is predictable. Berry’s directorial debut never puts her character above any other and each of the supporting roles feels as three-dimensional as humanly possible. As an Oscar-winning actress, the star of the film is the ideal confidant to her ensemble, and it shows on every single frame of the film.
Berry has not only a firm command on the story—all while turning in an Oscar Best Actress nomination worthy performance—but also the little things that seasoned helmers sometimes grapple with such as pacing and what exactly are you trying to say with the powerful medium you have that is the film? She has obviously soaked up volumes of information about the art of cinema from a lifetime of work alongside some of the industry’s greatest storytellers and set managers. As such she produces a film that has a director’s air about it that is years beyond a neophyte—which essentially, Bruised is exactly that.
There could also be the fact that clearly, she connected on a cellular level with the story. Again, sports stories can be about so much more than winning and losing. This is pure inspiration for anyone who has ever had a dream, even tasted success in that realm, and then saw it slip through their fingers. Worse still, the passage of time is an evil friend in that it can have one’s mind—increasing exponentially with each passing day—and have you believing that you are stuck in a vat of quicksand and every day not grabbing for that dream is an aspiration killer.
That’s just one angle of inspiration that could be gleaned from Berry’s first film. Beyond the story, the acting, the putting together of the pieces of the puzzle that are like pieces, the fact that Berry was able to do such a rich, almost divine devotion to this tale, on every single front she was tasked with succeeding. This is a complicated character. Bruised is a complicated story. Each person brings something unique to the backstory of this world that further cements it in the raw reality of Newark, New Jersey, circa 2021. The way that Berry managed all the balls in the air for this film that currently is airing on Netflix, is sublime. Whatever she tackles next, we’re there—front and center.
When Danny Boyd Jr.’s Manny is dropped into her life, the biological son is not only a surprise to Jackie, but at that point of the story is like an atom bomb to any kind of dream she may have rekindled. First of all, children are not dream killers. Secondly, they are more likely to add layers of emotive tethering between the audience and the story up there on the screen than anything else. Nothing thaws the soul quicker than having to be a parent in 3, 2….1.
Their presence also has a habit of lighting fires under people. Sure, that happens in Bruised, but it too is never predictable. It is handled with such freshness that it evolves naturally and not something one thinks about until long after the film has concluded its complete washing over you and your world.
Underdog stories have long been an audience favorite since people started trading tales to pass the time thousands of years ago. There’s a crystal clear reason for that and whether it is the recent King Richard (in theaters or HBO Max) or Berry’s Bruised (on Netflix), you cannot lose with how one experiences either feel-good flick.
Watching at the homestead? You can literally jump up and down and shout at the television, further immersing yourself in both tales rise-up themes. Then again, if you feel safe in a theater these days, there’s nothing like cheering with a roomful of strangers collectively as the characters on the big screen move us in such a way that we are physically moved.
Grade: A