Tent boxing is an interesting subject for a movie. Australia’s defunct recreation sits on a Venn diagram between sporting events and circus acts, where troupes of combatants perform low-cost spectacles for outback audiences.
This is the centerpiece of director Paul Goldman’s 70s-set drama Kid Snow, whose scruffy title character, played by Billy Howle, is a lowly Irish boxer who becomes part of this world. He works at a show run by his brother Rory (Tom Bateman).
Following the lore of boxing movies, the protagonist is offered a match with the man he lost to on a fateful and tragic night ten years ago, who is now the Commonwealth Champion, for a chance to settle the score. given.
The Kid is an underdog who must rise against the odds and risk everything to prove himself, hinting at yet another troubling tale of reversals. Unfortunately, the story is told rather stiltedly and unimaginatively, with flecks of dramatic intrigue here and there.
A clearer look at the noise and spectacle of tent boxing, as well as its cultural context, would have provided some flair and excitement, but as both a sports film and a historical drama, the film only partially delivers. Instead, it feels burdened by well-flogged genre tropes. It comes to life perfectly as a time-capsule vision of old-fashioned Australian recreation.
The film begins like Martin Scorsese’s often imitated but rarely matched masterpiece, Raging Bull, with an elegantly framed slow-motion shot of the protagonist flitting around the ring. , which emphasizes body movement and physicality over the screams of the audience. In fact, the crowd is barely visible, and the ring sits in a foggy haze that blurs the background, making it look stylishly smoky and, on a practical level, the need for extras and a set that resembles a sports venue. even has been reduced. This trick is fine once used, especially when the audience is still getting used to the movie, but when Goldman employs it again for the big televised fight in the final act, it’s clearly a cost-cutting technique. It looks like.
After losing a big fight in the prologue, tragedy strikes when a rattled Kid crashes his car, killing his father (John Brampton) and permanently injuring his younger brother. The story jumps forward ten years and Kid’s dreams are dashed until he is given the opportunity to participate in the aforementioned rematch. There the protagonist begins training, but oddly enough the film feels like it’s only half-heartedly committed to capturing the build-up to the big battle, even though that’s central to the premise.
Even more dramatic is Kid’s relationship with Sunny (Phoebe Tonkin), a single mother who joins the troupe as a dancer. Like most of the film’s characters, she has a dark past, influenced by her regretful monologues. Other supporting characters include Indigenous boxers Lizard (Hunter Page-Rochard) and Lovely (Mark Coles-Smith). They’re given decent screen time, but they feel oddly underdeveloped, with little understanding of what they stand for or what motivates them. But Kid and Sunny are easy to read. Both burdened by their pasts, both seeking an outlet and open to the possibility of love.
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“You can feel her pushing the drama into a heavier, moodier key,” says Phoebe Tonkin, who plays Sonny. Photo: David Der Parker/Madman Films
Tonkin brings a tired, black-eyed melancholy, which is very interesting. You can feel her pushing the drama into a heavier, moodier key. Howl is strong in the role of the same name, and the hairy energy of a guy who hasn’t showered in a week feels real and alive. But I couldn’t feel a strong emotional connection to him and the drama never started. The dialogue is also very elaborate, giving the impression of a last-minute effort. There are also issues with pacing and energy. The structure is adrift, the drama is escalating, and you don’t get a strong sense that the stakes are rising.
Kid Snow is set in 1920s Sydney and is a sequel to 2008’s Tender Hook, which starred Hugo Weaving as a gangster-style brawler and Matthew Le Neves as an earnest up-and-comer. ” It has a little more personality. This film had a bigger budget and therefore had more impressive period detail, but it lacked friction and flair and even reeked of mothballs. The door is still open for someone to make a great Australian boxing period drama.
