Punch

Released Mar 10, 2023

1 hr. 38 min.

Drama

LGBTQ+

Sports

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for Punch: Trailer 1

List

81%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Jim is a seventeen-year-old boxer in a small town. He is a golden boy, preparing for a fight that will elevate him to an early professional status. All bets are on his climb to success. But his father Stan is a demanding coach and a notorious alcoholic. In the town Stan is treated like a joke but he has given everything to see his son gain professional status and escape the brutality of his small world. As Jim begins to rethink why he is fighting his life tangles with Whetu, a razor-tongued, gay Maori boy who spends his days in an old shack down by the beach. With his dog Moimoi he cobbles together a fragile glamour and dreams of leaving town to become a musician. As Jim stumbles towards discovering what it really is to be a gay man, he is forced to see that strength has little to do with heroism.

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Premiered Jul 12

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Jeremy C

Wistful, touching and honest. It's a great flick to cuddle up on the couch and watch. The acting (and chemistry) by the two leads is tremendous and Tim Roth anchors these as an alcoholic father you can't help but feel for. The infatuation between Jim and Whetu nails the coming-of-age vibe and the small town homophobia feels real, though the hate crime did feel a little too shock and awe. The whole endeavour was pretty great until the last 10 minutes, where it suddenly goes an off the rails. Whilst the end is sweet, it feels a bit half baked.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/16/24

Full Review

Jerod S

It's a cluster of family dysfunctionality with a resolution that looks really lonely.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/24

Full Review

Paul M

Beautiful photography and natural scenery compliment some assured acting, special note for Tim Roth. However the story is a very well trodden path with no surprises and takes way too long in getting there. Opportunity lost most definitely.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/27/23

Full Review

Gullible T

I really wanted to like this film. The actors were good, but the story left me wanting something a little bit more. The ending wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped. I think Jim became the videographer that he wanted to be; and I think Whatu became the singer/songwriter that he had planned to become. I'm not sure that it told me anything other than what I already knew about narrow minded society, especially in this small local insular community. The brutality of the rape scene shocked me, because hidden amongst these insular and prejudiced

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/15/23

Full Review

antonio s

A truly convincing tale of a man whose life is divided between his boxing career and his love of another man. It ties the super testosterone-filled world of boxing with homosexuality and it makes it fit perfectly. The only issue, as a boxing connoisseur, that I can personally have is the fact that regional title fights do not take place in old farm barns without any television coverage. This clique of boxing fights taking place in small, dirty, non-descript places is as old in Hollywood as the scene depicting Rocky fighting Spider Rico in a church, and it presents boxing in an unreal manner, although one can perhaps say it presents something of the unseen, dark side of the sport. The aspect of men and small-town people hating homosexuality as presented in this movie is something we can all relate to also in the modern times. And so is the aspect of the father who is willing to overlook his own prejudices to put his son's happiness first. Once again, Tim Roth picked a winner!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/04/23

Full Review

PETER W

I thought this was a pretty good prize fight movie even though there iis only one scene at the end when the main character actually fights. It's also a film about a father-son relationship in which the father who previously fought, tries to make his son into a good boxer. Finally, there is a gay relationship thrown in. I liked the film but I thought the plot was a bit farfetched.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/29/23

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Welby Ings

Director

Tim Roth

Stan

Jordan Oosterhof

Jim Richardson

Conan Hayes

Whetu

Abigail Laurent

Chelsea

Sage Klein

Amber

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Punch: Trailer 1

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Cath Clarke

Guardian

It’s a delicate film with a pair of lovely, natural-feeling performances from its two leads.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 8, 2023

Full Review

Noel Murray

Los Angeles Times

Ings does a fine job of capturing the instant connection between these two young men and in conveying Jim’s combination of excitement and terror when he realizes this bond could evolve easily into a romance.

Mar 10, 2023

Full Review

Kyle Turner

New York Times

Flowing and keenly observant of its characters and setting, “Punch” swings above its weight class.

Mar 9, 2023

Full Review

Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

Writer-director Welby Ings makes the most of the setting's natural beauty and the toxic masculinity that oozes throughout the premise, both of which add layers to the characters.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 21, 2023

Full Review

Ben Turner

The Pink Lens

Drenched in the cold light of the seashore, these two opposites find themselves in each other. And alongside them, we fall in love with them both.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 9, 2023

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

Its subject matter predicts the genre cliches it can’t avoid. But some novel twists, artfully unfussy direction, sensitive performances and a strong sense of place — small town New Zealand — make it a winner.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 30, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

Jim is a seventeen-year-old boxer in a small town. He is a golden boy, preparing for a fight that will elevate him to an early professional status. All bets are on his climb to success. But his father Stan is a demanding coach and a notorious alcoholic. In the town Stan is treated like a joke but he has given everything to see his son gain professional status and escape the brutality of his small world. As Jim begins to rethink why he is fighting his life tangles with Whetu, a razor-tongued, gay Maori boy who spends his days in an old shack down by the beach. With his dog Moimoi he cobbles together a fragile glamour and dreams of leaving town to become a musician. As Jim stumbles towards discovering what it really is to be a gay man, he is forced to see that strength has little to do with heroism.

Director: Welby Ings
Screenwriter: Welby Ings, Welby Ings
Distributor: Dark Star Pictures
Production Co: Blueskin Films Ltd., Robin Murphy Productions
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+, Sports
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 10, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 10, 2023
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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