A Sombre Tale

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2015)

Given this is an Oscar winner for Best Picture, I had high hopes for an entertaining film. After the opening hour, the plot seemed to take on a Rockesque narrative, a rookie boxer, taken under the wing by a has been coach who manages to turn her into a fearsome unit. Then, suddenly, the movie takes an unexpected twist and the dreams of the boxer are shattered. Eastwood plays the trainer, a man who visits church every day and regularly writes to his daughter in the hope they will reconcile. We never find out how they fell out but it seems that his reluctance to initially work with the female boxer is made up for using her as a substitute for his daughter. The acting is impeccable from Freeman and Swank. However, I can't quite see how this film was given Best Picture...I'm a big fan of Eastwood's other work, such as Gran Torino, but Millon Dollar Baby lacks charisma and is not a film I would watch again in a hurry.