Punch (2022)

• Year: 2022
• Released: 06 Jan 2023
• Country: New Zealand
• Adwords: 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13153494/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/punch
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/punch
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: N/A
• Genre: Drama, Sport
• Runtime: 98 min
• Writer: Welby Ings
• Director: Welby Ings
• Cast: Tim Roth, Jordan Oosterhof, Conan Hayes
• Keywords: gay interest, lgbt athlete, lgbt, boxing, gay theme, gay,

	6.4/10
	29% – Critics
	17% – Audience

Punch Storyline

Jim is a seventeen-year-old boxer in a small town. He’s a golden boy, preparing for a fight that will elevate him to an early professional status. All bets are on his climb to success. But his father Stan is a demanding coach and a notorious alcoholic. As Jim begins to rethink why he is fighting, his life tangles with Whetu, a razor-tongued, gay Maori boy who spends his days in an old shack with his dog Moimoi where he cobbles together a fragile glamour and dreams of leaving town to become a musician. Away from the rainbow flags and Pride parades, Jim and Whetu must navigate isolation, hypocrisy, the brutality of small-town boxing, and an anonymous queer bashing that no one will talk about. As Jim stumbles towards discovering what it really is to be a gay man, he is forced to understand that strength has little to do with heroism.

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Punch Movie Reviews

A little offbeat, a little predictible, quietly satisfying.

I was expecting more strangeness from Welby Ings, whose short “Boy” (2004) was engagingly creepy. This is more conventional and grim, with homophobic violence and the poetic slow-mo gore of desperate boxing.

It’s a little predictable. The town of Pirau (meaning “rotten”) is hypocritically homophobic. The butchest characters turn out to be the queerest. Jim (engaging Jordan Oosterhof) is ill-at-ease from beginning to end with the role of boxer that his father (obviously wanting his son to be what he couldn’t) pushes him into – shades of “Tea and Sympathy” (1956) – and the central issue of him finding his sexuality is familiar. What happens to Whetu (Conan Hayes), a young Maori femme on the way to spread his, um, wings in Sydney, comes as little surprise. There are some surprises and subtlety, though. In a single gesture and a few seconds of action, our view of Whetu’s role changes 180 degrees – or perhaps that should be basement to penthouse.

As usual in Aotearoa, the scenery threatens to steal the show, in this case the dunes of, probably, southern Kaipara, generally filmed in a gloomy afternoon light. The sex is poetic and inexplicit, fitting well into the storyline.

A couple of things strain credulity, high tech video gear in a remote shack far from the grid, and a high school boxer being set up in a high-stakes bout when he’s so far never been seen in a ring with an opponent. But the ending is feel-good, if not what you might expect.

Beautiful and worth the watch

Punch certainly felt polished and pretty well developed. The cinematography and ambience worked for the film – it was actually quite beautiful.

What stops this film from being successful in my eyes was a slightly confused narrative alongside a dubious script. Without going into details, much of the characters’ dialogue really feels like it needed a rewrite – it was awkward and a bit jarring in many parts and the actors struggled to make it believable.

Some characters and plot points felt undeveloped, and that might be due to the fact that the central story (the boxing match) altogether wasn’t strong or compelling enough to carry the weight of the film all by itself.

All in all it was still a wonderful film and I would definitely encourage others to watch.

New Zealand Boxing needs this Film

Punch is a nice film that is really needed in today for New Zealand Boxing which currently battles Homophobia and toxic masculinity. Jordan Oosterhof who plays the boxer has obviously done well to maintain his fitness for the film but the true star of this movie is Conan Hayes. The writing with Conan Hayes was great and you can tell he did amazing job with is with portraying a gay teenage Maori boy in a small town who sells his body to make money.

Negatives One major problem i had is the lack of trigger warning before seeing the film for the rape scene in the movie. On the technical side of things, you can tell the film makers did not get a boxing consultant, advisor or an expert for the little things that make a major difference eg, lack of weigh in scene, officials not wearing the right attire, glove size, weight division has the lead did not look like he was a welterweight. The lead of the film who plays a 17 year old turning pro is also wouldnt be allowed in modern times, however if he was 18 it would be. On top of that I can tell that the film makers didn’t involve the New Zealand LGBT Boxers in the film which also would have been a big difference, especially New Zealand boxing gay judge. The ending felt a bit incomplete. On top of that the Jordan Oosterhof character had a hobby making music videos was editing a video at the end of the film of Conan Hayes using footage from earlier in the film during which Conan Hayes character was alone right before he got raped, on a technical side was a big screw up and a bit out of taste.

Positives The composition of the music was great. The story telling was great. Boxing really played a minor part of the film where the friendship between these two characters were really the main focus of the film. It also addresses issues still affecting LGBT community today especially in small towns and in the sport of boxing. The story behind the two main characters were great and effective.

Overall the movie was nice but had a lot of technical issues especially in the boxing part.