She's in her last year, on the brink of expulsion, hating history, science, the whole authoritarian bag. She wants out, wherever that is. He pays for Tiny to box at a Brooklyn gym, even though the boy has no aptitude. Reluctantly, for ten bucks a week, he agrees. Girlfight is about the girl and her rage against a world that is so pitiless her mother committed suicide, aged 37.
Fighting is both physical and disciplined.
Diana earns respect and discovers pride, which sounds oozy and patriotic, but isn't. Kusama avoids the well-worn cliches by being honest and unafraid of confrontation. This is the best boxing movie since De Niro stepped into the ring for Scorsese, certainly the best-written. Rodriguez has an intensity Method actors flaunted in the Fifties. She won't let you close.