THE CUT

TIFF 24 REVIEW BY: KURT MORRISON

DATE: SEPTEMBER 11, 2024

RATING: 3.5 out of 5

I have to admit something, folks. I am bored of the boxing movie genre. It's been a few years now, of feeling a lot of the same feelings when it comes to the fare in this niche, and the Creed films only further cemented that.

I know, I know.... I'm in the small minority.

Director Sean Ellis and I might share a lot in common, as The Cut is very different in terms of storytelling within the genre but also pushes the envelope with its lead Orlando Bloom, who deserves all the buzz he has been getting this festival with this standout performance.

Centering around a retired boxer, our central figure is never given a real name, he just goes by The Boxer for the entirety of the film. He is 10 years past his prime, running a gym with his partner Caitlin, fiercely played by the always fantastic Caitríona Balfe. All seems well in their world. Happy, healthy, fulfilled. But when a boxer suddenly drops dead prior to a title match, The Boxer reaches out to the fights shady promoter and is given the opportunity to compete within the squared circle once more.

The only problem is that, to qualify, The Boxer needs to drop 35 pounds in just six days. And therein lies our uphill battle for The Cut.

Equal parts psychological body horror as is it sports drama, writers Justin Bull and Mark Lane are not interested in seeing Bloom' Boxer go 12 rounds with the champ, they are interested in the deconstruction of a man - physically, mentally, emotionally. And I was all in for that kind of 12 rounds.

Filmed backwards, Bloom had already been training for months prior to filming, losing somewhere between 30-40 pounds himself, coming into shooting the leanest he has been on screen in years. Director Sean Ellis recently discussed that expecting Bloom to continually lose weight as the film continued filming during its 25 day shooting schedule wouldn't be possible, because the number of calories Bloom was consuming wouldn't be enough to support him physically for his long days on set. So what we see at the end of the movie is actually day 1 of shooting.

Learning that after my screening only reiterated that Bloom can still be a dominant force on screen when pushed by a great screenplay and a great director, along with a phenomenal editing team that never made it seem so because the transition of Orlando from being too skinny to his normal weight, seemed flawlessly edited.

The idea of just another boxing movie bores me nowadays and this is simply not that, as we see the training regiment these athletes are subjected to in order to drop to a particular weight for weigh-in day. Now if you don’t know how the sports of boxing or mixed martial arts works, hitting or not hitting a particular weight prior to fight night can be catastrophic - meaning less of a payday and in this case for The Boxer, no chance at the title. The fight would still happen BUT with far less incentive. So immediately, I felt the urgency and anxiety of the situation.

I love Orlando in this role, but if there is anyone who deserves some award season credit, it is Mr. John Turturro. Always reliable in a supporting role, Turturro has never been this methodical or conniving, starring as Boz, a trainer who gets pulled into The Boxer’s training team as the clock counts down closer and closer to weigh-in day. With methods that are both cruel and unusual, he understands the game they must play in order to get The Boxer down below that goal weight of 155 pounds - and even with people walking away from the team, Boz does not give a shit. Turturro packs a verbal punch every time he opens his mouth, but when he gets into it with Caitriona Balfe’s Caitlin during one scene that essentially fractures the team, you could hear the entire theatre on the edge of their seats because of how powerful and mean Turturro was on screen.

If there is one quam I have with the film, it is the black and white flashbacks that feature a subplot about the Boxer growing up in Ireland during the IRA’s reign of terror on the general population, along with his mother being a prostitute. It just doesn’t fit into the narrative, nor does it make sense in terms of the story the writers are trying to tell regarding The Boxer’s physical or mental degradation. I understand that as the film carried on the flashbacks served as elements of horror that are coming back to haunt him, but the severity of the situations don’t feel relevant to the process that is being undertaken by Boxer and Boz.

The Cut is unlikely any sports film you will see and that is a really good thing. It’s hard hitting with a fresh insight into the behind the scenes of the sport of boxing and because there is so little actual boxing to it, it doesn’t pigeon hole itself into solely being a sports film. I’m really looking forward to giving The Cut a second watch whenever it hits theatres.