[yasr_overall_rating]
A homeless man is recruited by a bunch of rich kids to fight other impoverished people.
Few things are more tragic than human beings reduced to shadows of themselves, left without an identity or home by circumstance. They wander the streets, largely ignored by some, repulsing others; some search for meaning, sustained by memories of their former selves, others just exist on a minute basis, hopping from one tiny accomplishment (a leftover meal, a couple of quarters) to the other. The number of films that examine the lives of those people unfortunately happens to be quite low. Knate Lee’s “Cardboard Boxer” falls somewhere in the middle of the pantheon of those movies, which range from admirable failures (“The Caveman’s Valentine”) to ambitious-but-flawed efforts (“The Soloist”) to, well, so far one masterpiece I’ve seen that dealt with the issue, Oren Moverman’s “Time Out of Mind” (read my review here). While it certainly has noble intentions, moments that stick and a few memorable performances, “The Cardboard Boxer” fails to truly pack a punch.
Willie (Thomas Haden Church) is a broken man without a past, desperate for friendship, his creased features, deadened eyes and slouchy posture revealing a long, desolate life out in the streets. Three events occur that arguably change the course of Willie’s future: he finds a little girl’s burnt diary; a local cabdriver (Terrence Howard), nicknamed Pope, known for taking care of the homeless, gives him a blanket; and a couple of rich kids force him to engage in a street fight, whereby a hidden talent is discovered and he is nicknamed – you guessed it – The Cardboard Boxer. As the fights become more intense, Willie creates an imaginary friend out of the diary, clinging to it, a last ember in his charcoal life, even learning to read and write cursive through spelling cards. “I don’t want to be alone when I die,” he says. But then he befriends the wheelchair-bound Pinky (Boyd Holbrook), a young man who lost his legs in the war, and a spark of hope appears… Until about an hour in, that is, when the film takes an unexpected, grisly turn that almost derails the entire plot.
Willie’s skewed interpretation of “friendship” – a burnt diary, a bitter young veteran, a couple of maniacal kids that use him for kicks – is an effective prism through which writer/director Lee condemns society. “Look what you’ve done to this man,” he accuses us. His film is about people who live minute to minute, cent to cent, spending their hard-earned cash on overpriced motel rooms, just to feel momentarily alive. These men and women shed their dignity a long time ago, glimmers of it peeking through intermittently. Macy Gray shows up in what amounts to barely more than a resonant cameo as a prostitute who gives blowjobs for $5 – the ultimate embodiment of stripped-away humanity – but all Willie wants for the money is a minute of love, a hug, to feel.
Other accomplished scenes include Willie’s simple-yet-lyrical recital of his day-to-day living, Pinky’s tragic fate, a wise and heartbreaking ex-piano player reminiscing about his glory days (“You gotta filer through the memories, pick the best one and hold that shit tight. Let the rest of them fade away”)… When Willie tries to enlist in the army and doesn’t meet the age requirements, he desperately insists, “I want you to use me as a human shield. I want you to throw me away.” The film sustains a dismal, melancholic tone well.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the fighting – the central concept – the film starts to resemble a cardboard “Fight Club,” and not in a good way. Bordering on mean-spirited, the film revels a bit too much in scenes of helpless, homeless folks beating the last semblance of life out of each other for the rich kids’ amusement – whose exchanges, by the way, come off as both overwritten and shallow (“From now on, you are Romans, and these bums are gladiators!”, their leader, JJ (an eccentrically evil Rhys Wakefield), proclaims). I know they are supposed to be terrible and stupid, but the film goes way overboard, a stark contrast to the more effective, quieter scenes. Perhaps it has something to do with the director’s background – he has been involved in one way or another in all of the “Jackass” movies – but scenes like Willie beating the pulp out of an arguably mentally-challenged man evoke the horrid “Bumfights.” The films is also a little one-sided and repetitive. We don’t know anything about Willie’s past, which makes it hard to relate to him, as he’s borderline-psychotic. Last but not least, Terrence Howard appears in a few more-or-less powerful scenes, but one can’t shake the feeling that the man’s just cashing in his paycheck.
While “Cardboard Boxer”’s intentions are admirable and clear, and Thomas Haden Church truly commits to his character, it inadvertently leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth. Lee should have stuck to his guns, like Moverman did in “Time Out of Mind,” and made his film a study of a man, driven to this point by a corrupt system that sends many lives spiraling down into the gutter. Instead what we have is an uneasy combination of true insight and a somewhat-forced, sentimental/derivative tale that borders on exploitation. Not quite a knockout then, but definitely worth a look.
In theaters Friday, September 16th
