Gerald Wright's Movie Coverage
NOTABLE FILM FROM TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL - APRIL 23 TO MAY 4, 2008
REDBELT
Directed/Written by: David Mamet
Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes
Release date: May 2, 2008 (Limited NY & LA) & May 9, 2008 (Wide)
Genre: Action, Drama and Martial Arts
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
MPAA Rating: R
Imagine an American samurai film set in the L.A. underground fight world. This is partly the story in this masterpiece directed by the multi-talented David Mamet.
Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) a Jiu-Jitsu teacher, has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing to pursue an honorable life operating a self-defense studio with a samurai code of ethics. Terry and his wife Sondra (Alice Braga) find it difficult to keep his academy and her clothing business going. As bad luck would have it, on a dark and rainy night an accident takes place between an off duty police officer Max Martini (Joe Collins) who is a loyal member of the academy and a distraught attorney named Laura Black (Emily Mortimer). Laura Black fires Max's weapon into the academy's window. Terry not having money to pay his rent, finds himself getting involved with the same people he has been avoiding. Terry's life gets turned upside down when he is introduced to fight promoters Jerry Weiss (Joe Mantegna) and Marty Brown (Rickey Jay) and movie star Chet Frank (Tim Allen). Faced with paying off debts and regaining his honor, he has to deal with a wife who undermines him. The alternative to his problems is to step into the ring -- or does he have to?
It seems author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and film director David Mamet can do anything. He is known for his notable works of Lakeboat (1970 play), Writing in Restaurants (1987 book) and Glengarry Glen Ross, Wag the Dog, The Spanish Prisoner, Hannibal and Spartan (movies) . Well, you're probably right. He presently has two plays going (November and A Waitress in Yellowstone). His directing style includes anti-beautiful scenery in backgrounds, but simple functional shots to get his point across. It has been said that he wants his films to be perpetuated by logical ways of creating order from disorder in search for the objective. In this film he uses his characters in a hard and gritty manner to expose the disciplined martial arts traditions and the raw illegal fight circuit.
The supporting cast members of Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Bruno Sylva, Augusto Silva, Zena Frank, Taketa Morisaki, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Cathy Cahlin Ryan, David Paymer, Randy Flynn and Jiu-Jitsu Master Joao Moro added brilliant dramatic performances in this clever narrative.
FILM RATING (B)
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