Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 3-July-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Girlfight (2000)

Although "Million Dollar Baby" became the heavyweight champion of the women's-boxing-movie world after winning an Oscar, Karyn Kusama's "Girlfight" remains a titleholder in a lighter class of the genre. A low-budget Sundance favorite that introduced writer/director Kusama and actress Michelle Rodriguez, "Girlfight" is the story of a perennially pissed-off 18-year-old named Diana Guzman who grapples with the challenges of family, poverty, and gender. Her home is an apartment in the projects where her father (Paul Calderon) lords it over her and her gentle brother (Ray Santiago) with the toughness of an inveterate coward. (Her mother is conspicuously and tragically absent.) Disgusted with the lot she has been handed to date, Diana takes refuge in antisocial behavior which includes attacking other girls at school, and she seems headed for expulsion and delinquency until she decides to try her hand at boxing. In the rigor of athletic competition and the interest of her trainer (Jaime Tirelli) she discovers the discipline and motivation she has long been lacking. This allows her to control her anger (save on one astonishing occasion) and to regard herself and her future as things worth fighting for.

There seems to be a rule that every movie with characters under 70 (i.e., every movie) must have a romantic angle whether it needs one or not, but in the case of "Girlfight" the romance actually serves to unite the other themes. While training at the gym Diana meets a fellow fighter named Adrian (Santiago Douglas) with whom she shares a hunger for purpose and an instant chemistry. Like everyone else in their social environment, Adrian grew up believing that females were distinct creatures whose sole function was sexual, a view which Diana always raged against but could never effectively counter. By contending with each other, however (in both a literal and figurative sense), they come to realize important truths that people both within the movies and without rarely comprehend. For her part, Diana learns that what she needs above all is to be cherished with respect, while Adrian finds out that love — mirabile dictu! — is sweetest when exchanged between equals. Their budding relationship caps off Diana's journey: first we must accept ourselves by dealing with the past, then we must give ourselves in full knowledge of our worth.

Kusama unspools "Girlfight" in a simple but elegant style that grabs your attention from the very first scene, and Rodriguez brings the perfect look and intensity to the role of Diana. Their care and skill are fitting for a girl-power movie that honors the making of a young woman's life.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.