“Day of the Fight” is a sentimental and soulful “fight picture,” a movie that follows a former champ through every bit of personal business he feels he has to take care of before his “comeback” that night.
The actor-turned-director Jack Huston (“Ben-Hur,” “Mr. Mercedes”), of the acting and directing Huston clan, cast his debut feature with great care, shot it in black and white and turned it into an homage to every classic boxing picture that came before it.
There’s something about this genre that begs for cliches and tropes because the viewer needs them to validate the experience. Huston sets the tone with forlorn, hopeful tunes by Sixto Rodriguez and Jackson Frank. And when you’ve got Ron Perlman, Steve Buscemi, John Magaro and Joe Pesci playing the archetypal supporting parts, the familiarity of it all takes on a warmth that the brutal sport only achieves on the big screen.
Michael C. Pitt of “Rob the Mob” and TV’s “Boardwalk Empire” plays “Irish Mike,” a former middleweight champ making a comeback. He’s a New Yorker living a hardscrabble life — working as a longshoreman, living in a spartan apartment and training with grumpy, grousing Stevie (Perlman).
Mike was the classic “always gets back up” tough guy in the ring. Now he’s got a comeback fight, an undercard bout with a contender.
But before he fight in “The Garden,” he’s got a day of stops — at the gym, at the shipyard, at his favorite take-out breakfast joint for a gulp of raw egg and hot chocolate from Tracy (Kaili Vernoff), a visit to a guy he grew up with (John Magaro) who became a priest and a stop by a private school to glance at the daughter (Kat Elizabeth Williams) whose mother (Nicolette Robinson of TV’s “The Affair”) doesn’t want him anywhere near her.
Mike’s got baggage, a rough childhood he recalls in flashbacks, a big mistake he made years ago that derailed his relationship, his career and his life. And that big mistake isn’t the only secret he’s carrying along on his rounds on this wintry day in the late ’80s.
His mother’s ring must be fetched and pawned. The cash will go to a dry-cleaner/bookie (Anatol Yusef) who, come what may, had better pay up if Mike’s long-shot bet wins.
“I got nothing, OK?” Mike pleads.
“All I got’s my word,” the bookie assures him. And that’s enough for Mike. It’s that kind of movie.
Setting his “big fight” melodrama in the late ’80s strips “Day of the Fight” down to the essentials. Little hype for fights, no cell phones, no chain restaurants, Mike listening to his music from mixtapes on his Walkman, New York (actually it was shot in New Jersey) at its post-’60s grungiest.
Pitt utterly inhabits this character, a mug who insists “I ain’t a monster. I CARE about things.” And the movie surrounding him — every character — cares about him.
Buscemi was born to play a longshoreman “pulling for ya” and Perlman’s the perfect cornerman. Magaro makes a fine version of the sort of priest such movies serve up, rarely found in real life — as foul-mouthed as his old pal, a friend and a man of flexible faith.
Robinson’s touching as “the one who got away,” a bartender and singer who sings and plays a spare, solo piano cover of “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” the night of the fight.
Pesci? He’s still capable of surprises, like when we hear him singing on an old LP, and later on the soundtrack.
Huston’s made his film with such care that the lack of other surprises hinders but never hobbles it.
“Day of the Fight” is a genre piece so evocative of other genre pieces that you don’t need to bother backtracking to see any version of “Body and Soul,” “Requiem for a Heavyweight,” “The Set-Up,” “The Fighter” or “Fat City” ever made, because there’s a taste of all of them in this simple, sad, single-day stroll through the life of a prize fighter who used to be somebody.
Rating: R, violence, nudity, profanity
Cast: Michael C. Pitt, Nicolette Robinson, Ron Perlman, Steve Buscemi, John Magaro and Joe Pesci.
Credits: Scripted and directed by Jack Huston. A Falling Forward release.
Running time: 1:45
