With his big-screen trio of Animal Kingdom, The Rover and The King, Australian director David Michôd has made a solid career of drawing heavy-duty drama out of problematic-dude protagonists. But boxing biopic Christy marks an interesting shift to a feminine focus as it tackles the true life of trailblazing prizefighter Christy Martin (Sydney Sweeney).
Born in smalltown West Virginia, the teenage Martin went from entering a fight for a lark in the late ’80s to becoming big-shot promoter Don King’s first-ever female signee, hitting her professional peak during the ’90s. This arc promises – and indeed delivers – another good old-fashioned punch-the-air tale of underdog sports triumph. But, if you’re unfamiliar with Martin’s story, you should brace yourself for a pivot into some dark and harrowing territory. For while she was a big public personality and an incredible heavy hitter in the ring, at home Christy was horrifically abused by her controlling spouse and trainer, Jim (Ben Foster). And though the scenes of domestic violence are handled sensitively by Michôd (whose film has Martin’s blessing – in fact, she was often on set), they do make for some deeply distressing moments.
Much of this is down to Sweeney and Foster’s performances, each of whom undergoes a remarkable transformation throughout the story’s two-decade span. Foster’s Jim is sweaty, paunchy and petulant, a spoiled man-child with an explosive inferiority complex who is too horribly realistic to tilt into villainous caricature. Sweeney, meanwhile, is barely recognisable under permed wigs and 30-odd pounds of added body weight. She’s excellent both in the ring – where there’s no apparent holding back, and the punches really land – and out of it, as she captures both Martin’s bright eagerness and her ironclad determination.
Brace yourself for a pivot into some dark and harrowing territory
The movie benefits from a strong supporting cast, too. Merritt Wever portrays Christy’s mother Joyce as a softly spoken, passive-aggressive monster, who firmly closes the closet door on her daughter’s lesbianism and brushes off the inconvenient truth of her son-in-law’s coercive behaviour. Meanwhile Wever’s fellow Walking Dead alumnus Chad L Coleman has a blast as Don King, bringing a burst of larger-than-life swagger to his few scenes.
But of course, this is Sweeney’s film. Christy is a career-best turn, sure to draw favourable comparisons with Hilary Swank (who, funnily enough, gets a namecheck in one scene, as Million Dollar Baby was released during the movie’s timespan). She may not be a problematic dude, but she’s certainly Michôd’s most impressive lead performer yet.
In US theaters Fri Nov 7. In UK and Ireland cinemas