Remarkable acting and psychological details

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2015)

It sure is a sad predicament for boxing films: they're one of the most predictable genres imaginable yet have the potential to be extremely fulfilling. Sure, they usually follow patterns so similar you could draw a graph, but when they're done well, the drama trumps any narrative predictability. However, there's a limit to how much drama I can take...
Billy Hope is the defending Light Heavyweight champion. The film opens with the fight in which he has to defend his title for the fourth time. This he does, but not before sustaining serious head injuries, resulting in eight stitches. His wife, Maureen, tries to convince him to retire and focus on his family. After all, she says, their future memories as a family would be tainted if his face looked like mashed potatoes. (That's not literally what she says, but you get the idea...) They both attend a charity event for the orphanage they both grew up in. A potential rival boxer shows his face and taunts Billy...successfully. A fight ensues and in the ensuing mayhem, Maureen is accidentally shot. Needless to say, Billy ends up in a downward spiral until he loses his job, his money, his house, even his daughter Leila who ends up in the hands of Child Protective Services. Billy must now collect what's left of himself and fight (figuratively speaking) to regain custody of his daughter.
If you've seen any sports film, let alone any boxing film, you'll be quite familiar with the structure: it all goes wrong before it all goes oh so right. It's thus left to story and character development to save the day. After all, it's not so much about the boxing itself as the characters and the buildup. Fortunately for us, the story is very well told, abetted by some strong acting by Gyllenhaal, McAdams and 13-year old Oona Laurence who plays Leila. Gyllenhaal and McAdams are able to suggest a shared history in the few scenes they have together and Laurence is very convincing. When she watches the final fight on TV, she's simultaneously scared and exhilarated.
The characterization is also convincing and full of interesting psychological details. I once heard that people who've just lost someone dear to them have a tendency to still refer to them in the present tense. This can be seen in the film after Maureen has died. Leila tells Billy, after he just turned off the light, that she "keeps the light on." Emphasis on 'keep', obviously. Or the attention to psychological detail in the appropriately nauseating death scene. Or the scenes involving Billy trying to repair his relationship with Leila.
So yeah, the drama is presented very convincingly...almost too convincingly. And this is the one downside: there's perhaps too much drama. This is a strange accusation, because all the drama is necessary. It doesn't feel like there are any superfluous scenes, but the end result is unrelentingly tragic and requires a great deal of stamina. Fortunately, because it's all well-written and acted, this isn't exactly a herculean effort. The only subplot that fails completely involves one of the kids at the gym Billy ends up going to, but I won't go into specifics.
In the end, I couldn't help but really like Southpaw. Yeah, you know where it's going, but the strong acting and psychological details make up for it. Watch it.