When thinking about “My Last Day” type of movies (where our protagonist is about to make a big life change and has just one day to reflect on their life lived, mistakes made, and making amends), Spike Lee’s 25th Hour always comes to mind. It’s such an interesting meditation not only on the idea of “setting things right” for the hero, but it was also a love letter to post-9/11 New York as the backdrop. Actor Jack Huston steps out of his comfort zone in his directorial debut (also taking on screenwriting duties) to capture the same theme in his new film Day of the Fight.
Brooklyn boxer “Irish” Mike Flannigan (Michael Pitt of Boardwalk Empire and Hannibal fame), who after a 10-year prison sentence following a tragic drunk-driving auto accident (which also damaged his brain) has been given a boxing opportunity to fight on the undercard of a big fight. While he’s gracious for the opportunity, there’s a lot of reflection he has to do. For one, one bad hit could literally kill him, but he also has a lot of unfinished business in his personal life. While Day of the Fight does feature his big boxing match, the film is really about a broken man who has to settle his affairs and make sure everything’s alright with his personal life. He has a fractured relationship with his child, his ex-wife, his friends, his trainer, and most importantly: his father.
In Day of the Fight, he goes about his day before the fight. He sees his uncle Colm (Steve Buscemi) and reflects on his deceased mother (and gets her old ring to pawn to bet on himself for the match). His mother was an important figure in his life, but her (and his) relationship with his abusive father has severely impacted his life. He also sees his old friend Patrick (John Magaro), who is now a priest, and allows him to give an impromptu confession (where both of them are cursing like sailors and reminiscing about the past). Of course, both his uncle and his friend are both wishing him luck on the fight and rooting, but they are betting against him as he hasn’t fought in 10 years. He visits his old gym where he touches base with his trainer Stevie (Ron Perlman) at their old gym. Although they have the fight later in the evening, they reflect on “what could have been” for his boxing career if he made different choices. We also see a little bit of that hot-head attitude as he almost gets into an altercation with a cocky boxer at the gym, which pisses off Stevie a little. Mike has also been visiting his estranged daughter at her school from afar, but respectful of his wife Jessica (Nicolette Robinson) and doesn’t speak to her, they simply wave to each other, and that’s good enough for him.
The bulk of his amends are spent with Jessica. At first, she wants nothing to do with him, showcasing the pain he has her through his selfish actions throughout their marriage. After convincing her to go for a walk and a meal to reflect on, the two make peace with the past in a cathartic way. While they are no longer together, they still have a connection that goes beyond their child and comes to a great resolution. Mike’s biggest challenge in Day of the Fight is with his estranged father Tony (Joe Pesci) who is now in a nursing home with dementia and nonverbal. Despite not saying one word, Joe Pesci shows why he’s one of the greats performance-wise. Mike and Tony’s relationship never was good, but this could be Mike’s last time seeing his father, so they have a powerful moment where Mike unloads a lifetime of feelings with his abusive father.
The final act of Day of the Fight is the actual match, and while a great and triumphant scene for the film, the first two acts serve better as the film then transforms into a cliched sports movie. Another aspect of the final act is that the fight choreography isn’t as impactful as earlier in the film when Mike is sparring with a cocky boxer. Unfortunately, the film showed the better part earlier, which caused the final act to be a little bit of a letdown from a technical perspective. However, outside of the fight, Day of the Fight is superb regarding technical filmmaking. While it doesn’t specify what year the film takes place in, it perfectly captures the NYC 1970s aesthetic: from the gambling, to the subways, to Mike befriending a young girl on the street as they talk about James Brown and Michael Jackson. Shooting the film in black and white also pays homage to Raging Bull in the best way possible.
Performance-wise, everyone does a great job on Day of the Fight. It seemed as though Jack Huston called in a dozen favors from his former Boardwalk Empire castmates for the film as Michael Pitt, John Magaro, and Steve Buscemi deliver fine performances, especially Pitt as he carries the film. Ron Pearlman is also great as Mike’s foul-mouthed trainer. Nicolette Robinson gives a great performance towards the end of Day of the Fight as she delivers a singing performance (she’s a lounge singer in the film) in concert with Mike’s final fight. As stated before, Joe Pesci doesn’t say a word, yet delivers a great performance with just his eyes.
Day of the Fight doesn’t reinvent the wheel in regard to sports dramas, but it does a great job as a character study of a person who reflects on a life of mistakes and attempts to make amends and continue on a journey of redemption and better themselves, and at the end of the day, that’s what we should all be striving to achieve.
Day of the Fight is now playing in select theaters, in DC on December 13th.
