The Featherweight

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LinBklyn0512 Great film! Great script! Great cinematography! Great actors! Definitely worth seeing more than once! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/22/24 Full Review Jennifer K Loved this movie! Beautiful period piece with impeccable acting and directing! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/21/24 Full Review Les N I didn't know this guy, now I do. It would have been more interesting seeing how he became world champion. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/20/25 Full Review Trina B IN A NUTSHELL: The film was beautifully directed by Robert Kolodny in his debut. Screenwriting credits go to Steve Loff. Robert Greene served as one of the producers and also as the film editor. Already, the film has been nominated for and won awards at several film festivals, including “Best Director of a Narrative Film”, “Best Director”, and “Grand Prize”. Congratulations to the team! THINGS I LIKED: James Madio does an excellent job as Willie Pep. And, yes, Willie Pep was a real-life boxer who held the title of World Featherweight champion two times between the years 1942 and 1950. His real name was Guglielmo Papaleo. James gives an excellent performance and truly disappears in the role. The rest of the cast also does a fantastic job and includes Ron Livingston, Stephen Lange, Ruby Wolf, Keir Gilchrist, Michael Siberry, and Lawrence Gilliard Jr. You might remember that Ron Livingston, Frank John Hughes, and James Madio were all in the hit TV series Band of Brothers in 2001. That’s such an incredible show. The American-Italian, east-coast accents were terrific. We get to see what is made to look like old footage, as well as actual clips, taking us back to Pep’s glory days and the 1960s. The film truly captures the spirit of the period. The goal of the film was to give it the look and feel of a documentary. It includes interviews with various people, old photographs and video clips, providing Italian translations into English when needed, and names of characters written on the screen like the ones we see in documentaries. It’s almost crazy to think of a 42-year-old as a has-been, but in sports, that’s kind of true. The film does a great job illustrating how we can hang on to our past and wish we could go back to our younger, better selves, but that we need to set new goals to move forward in life. I loved the smile at the fight at the end of the movie. It said SO much. The music is never overbearing. That final song was really great and matched the feeling of that last scene so well. THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: There’s a LOT of shaky cam, intentionally trying to imitate an old documentary film. It’s effective, but shaky cam makes me so dizzy. It’s also partly an insult to documentary filmmakers, insinuating that they can’t hold the film steady. Some scenes could have been tightened up to hold the audience’s interest better. TIPS FOR PARENTS: Young kids will be extremely bored. Teens might be interested if they’re into boxing and/or history. Cigarette smoking Lots of alcohol Talk of pre-marital relations and infidelity Some profanity and F-bombs Bickering adults Illegal drug use is portrayed. Some Italian is spoken with subtitles. To see my full review, go to my Movie Review Mom YouTube channel! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/31/24 Full Review FARAH B James Madio gives such delicate beautiful performance. He really tells this story with such subtlety and makes you feel the complications of this champion boxer who you can’t help but root for even though he’s really messed his own life up. The actress that played the lead was also outstanding. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/28/24 Full Review Read all reviews

The Featherweight

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