Sparring

This film is for me a a sort of French FAT CITY. Remember the John Huston's movie from 1972, about losers in the fighting game and starring Stacy Keach. And a particular short scene in the beginning of both features can make you think about the link between the two movies; the sequence where the main lead urinate blood in the toilet. Yes that's a movie dedicated to those hundreds of shadow prize fighters who have sometimes dozens of defeats and nearly none victory in their honour list. A movie, this French one, so poignant, moving, cruel, painful. But certainly not totally hopeless. The tale of a tenth grade fighter who struggles to survive with his family and who accepts to serve as a sparring Partner. Terrific.