Bleed for This is a gritty, pungently Rhode Island working class-set boxing drama that connects with most of its punches. Based on the colorful life of pugnacious fighter Vinny Pazienza, a champion in three different weight categories who dramatically defied doctors and the odds when he returned to the ring after breaking his neck in a car accident, this welcome return by Boiler Room writer-director Ben Younger can’t help but hit some familiar boxing picture notes but still rates as a vibrant addition to the genre. After film festival rounds, this Open Road release should reap moderate-to-good box-office returns.
One of the film’s disarming surprises is hearing these heavily accented voices coming out of actors who have never been associated with such characters, particularly Eckhart and Ciaran Hinds, the latter playing Vinny’s imposing, unpredictable father. More often seen as well-turned-out, presentable gents, Eckhart lets caution to the wind and digs down to find dramatic potential he’s never mined before and thereby socking over his portrayal of a morally fluctuating guy with many foibles who still provides Vinny with the tactical guidance he needs to put his opponents on the canvas.
The imposing Hinds has no trouble at first establishing the old man’s domineering pater familias profile but continues to add shadings of intuition and understanding in regard to his son. Katey Sagal effectively cuts a weird contrasting figure as a devoutly, nay, compulsively religious mother so rattled by her son’s occupation that she remains in her prayer room while everyone else watches Vinny’s bouts on the tube.
As maniacally as he took drum playing to the limit in Whiplash, Teller fights ‘til he wins or drops here. His intensity and determination levels are extreme, his proclivity for reckless, unthinking behavior just a bit less so, and the actor cuts a convincing boxer’s figure in the many scenes of training and combat. Whether there are more levels to this guy, however, whether he has any perspectives other than to persevere and win, remains uncertain.
All production values, notably Larkin Seiple’s vigorous camerawork and Kay Lee’s evocatively banal production design, contribute to soaking the viewer in a convincingly moldy, sweaty, tawdry environment. Dramatically, the story as told here reshapes events and ignores referencing many other bouts, including what happened after the film’s climax.
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Venue: Telluride Film Festival
Distributor: Open Road Films
Production companies: Magna Entertainment, Sikelia Productions, Verdi Productions, Bruce Cohen Productions, Younger Than You Productions, Solution Entertainment Group
Cast: Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart, Katey Sagal, Ciaran Hinds, Ted Levine, Christine Evangelista
Director: Ben Younger
Screenwriter: Ben Younger, story by Ben Younger, Pippa Bianco, Angelo Pizzo
Producers: Bruce Cohen, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Chad A. Verdi, Noah Kraft
Executive producers: Martin Scorsese, Joshua Sason, Michelle Verdi, Myles Nestel, Lisa Wilson
Director of photography: Larkin Seiple
Production designer: Kay Lee
Costume designer: Melissa Vargas
Editor: Zac Stuart-Pontier
Music: Julia Holter
Casting: Kerry Bardem, Paul Schnee
Rated R, 116 minutes
