What to expect
Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker make each fight a distinct psychological event rather than routine coverage. Robert De Niro’s performance tracks a life in which physical control and emotional control move in opposite directions.
How to ease in
The boxing chronology is secondary. Follow Jake’s cycles of suspicion, punishment, remorse, and performance; repetition is the point rather than a failure to progress.
Heads-up
A boxer’s brilliance in the ring cannot contain the jealousy and violence he carries home.
I am struck by how beautifully the film photographs a man who keeps making beauty feel unsafe. The ring gives his violence form; outside it, everyone else pays for the lack of one.
Open the note ↓
I am struck by how beautifully the film photographs a man who keeps making beauty feel unsafe. The ring gives his violence form; outside it, everyone else pays for the lack of one.
— Momo
Where to go next
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