Punch (I) (2022) User Reviews

Beautiful and worth the watch

[dpzrxkwdg · 7/10 · 28 September 2022]

Punch certainly felt polished and pretty well developed. The cinematography and ambience worked for the film - it was actually quite beautiful.

What stops this film from being successful in my eyes was a slightly confused narrative alongside a dubious script. Without going into details, much of the characters' dialogue really feels like it needed a rewrite - it was awkward and a bit jarring in many parts and the actors struggled to make it believable.

Some characters and plot points felt undeveloped, and that might be due to the fact that the central story (the boxing match) altogether wasn't strong or compelling enough to carry the weight of the film all by itself.

All in all it was still a wonderful film and I would definitely encourage others to watch.

Just OK

[B24 · 6/10 · 9 July 2023]

A predictable story line once all the loose ends are tied up following an interesting start. Too bad about the script. The dialogue is very thin and a good editing is needed to condense elements of character in the two main protagonists right from the start. Photography excels, as does sound recording, but with New Zealand as a backdrop that is almost a given. For a relatively low budget film it feels quite professional. A red Pontiac convertible from the early 70's played a role. Was it intended?

I respect comments already made here by others who were puzzled by how a small town could host a major boxing match. The last third of the film resorted to this plot trope straight out of the 1950's. Finally, knowing the locale as I do, I had a hard time picturing Conan as a traditional Maori.

So You Wanna Be a Boxer

[deanosuburbia · 5/10 · 5 February 2024]

I saw the trailer for this and read the synopsis so I was hopeful for a decent gay drama. Punch wasn't terrible but it wasn't great at the same time. Jordan Oosterhof was a steady lead actor in this film. The story was weak at times and some of the antagonists were a bit on the wooden side. It would have been good to see the bad guys get a proper comeuppance for their horrific actions.

Of course it was watchable but not a film to revisit too many times. If you are expecting a lot of boxing scenes then you are likely to be disappointed, although there was a Rocky style work out montage rip-off scene which was fun.

Boys with dreams and men with greed.

[sunsetwest-05519 · 7/10 · 22 April 2023]

I found the acting and most of the storyline to be very well done, in comparison to what I've seen so far and I've seen many going way back over the years at least this was 80% of the time was entertaining. Definitely a little homophobic a little cheesy. Don't hold your breath for a fairytale ending but everything they promised will come true. You will notice movies bring you in the first 15 minutes or less. Pull up a chair sit back relax get yourself some popcorn. It's a cute little coming-of-age gay Romance movie two boys against the world, love finding its way with boys finding each other. 💞

Decent coming of age of a young boxer.

[chong_an · 7/10 · 23 August 2023]

In a seaside small town, 17-year-old Jim is an aspiring boxer, training for his 1st professional bout. HIs coach is his father Stan, whose boxing gym has only Jim as its client, his day job is disapppearing, and (unknown to Jim) is dying of cancer. Mostly Jim sees his father as a repeated drunk, and he gets enticed to switch coaches.

Jim is also distracted by his girlfriend, who keeps wanting more of his time. But in his training runs, he meets becomes mates with Whetu, a Maori living on his own in a shack. Openly gay, Whetu is bullied, harassed, and worse, and wants to leave town immediately upon finishing school. While Jim spends a lot of time with Whelan, Jim can't stand up for, or defend him. As Jim prepares for his fight, he has to navigate his feelings towards his father, his girlfriend, and his new mate.

The scenery is nice, and the lead role is well acted. Also, as Whelan complains, the "straight boy" keeps going around shirtless, showing off his tempting body. There may be a bit too many training scenes, at the expense of more character development. Still, a decent gay coming-of-age story.

beautiful work

[Kirpianuscus · 30 April 2023]

A beautiful film for theme and its fair exploration, for construction of story, sure, reminding too much a sketch, but, more significant, for the inspired performances.

A film about be father and vulnerability of son, about boxing and friendship and refuge and a small community perspective about other , defined by rules and prejudices.

Yes, it could be better. But the essential is so clear and very precise defined. A story who surprises in few moments, just in beautiful manner.

In short, new occasion for Tim Roth to propose fair definition of a character defined by ambiguity , for young Jordan Oosterhof to give fair traits to his Jim and for Conan Hayes to use the opportunities offers by his Whetu to define, in cold manner, the relation out of expectations of the others.

Boxing/Finding yourself/Freeing the spirit

[edwedw · 6/10 · 1 March 2024]

It can be hard to be gay no matter where you are. Conservative or Moderate and even liberal, small minds make you want to leave. In this small town jobs are disappearing by the second so the father does what he can to help his son (Jim) get free via boxing. Though in a backwards way. Jim is becoming strong of mind but he is still naive and he is learning who he is what he wants likes making videos. Whetu is good, artistic and edged due to how the world treats him due to his sexuality. And the mistakes we make that lead to bigger consequences even when we try to do good, survive and just be emotionally well and free.

This movie is about the attempt to persevere and the drive to figure yourself out even when horrible things are ocurring around you. To find the path and walk it to the other side and when you get there to breath air that tastes like your first drink of water. But sometimes we don't get there. Or we don't get there the way we originally thought we would.

Homophobic town gore

[charlottebegayy · 3/10 · 19 December 2023]

Three stars for Conan Hayes and occasionally Jordan Osterhof. Conan and his character pull this film from the unthinkable, unwatchable disaster it is.

Punch. The telltale name suggests you will get quite a literate intellectual and emotional punch delivered just to your door, with no delay.

Do the producers get off on the violence they bring on screen? How many more hate crimes do we have to depict in such meticulous snd thought-out detail, how many more scenes of despicable fights, misery and human atrocities do we have to stuff the cinematic legacy with? The blood gushing out, the bone breaking fist fights, the heinous rape with no warning, any other monstrosity that comes to mind? Rest assured, it's in this film.

I believe LGBTQ+ representation on film should be done cognizant of what came before, as well as how the content being produced influences the present what it insinuates. Upon watching "Punch" I can hardly imagine the idea behind the work, other than bringing some good-old hardcore violence, yet again making the queer people watching and everyone else involved feel awful. Why? And while the small-town homophobic gore plot has already been used in a million other productions, there is a way to depict such struggle (emotional and physical!) without imposing on the viewer the gut-wrenching scenery for most of the movie.

Living in such environments is extremely isolating and emotionally debilitating, which unfortunately is not nearly shown in "Punch". The sweet openly gay Maori student enjoys his life in a remote hut, frequently walking around the town not caring what other people think. He finds a friend in a macho competitive boxing highschooler. While the nature is breathtaking and there is great chemistry between the lead actors, the film is broken down by choppy and redundant cinematography.

I wish this movie showed an endearing love story of two young teens exploring the world in spite of the constraints of a close-minded reality, but it fails to connect the dots.

A little offbeat, a little predictible, quietly satisfying.

[Shuggy · 8/10 · 9 August 2022]

I was expecting more strangeness from Welby Ings, whose short "Boy" (2004) was engagingly creepy. This is more conventional and grim, with homophobic violence and the poetic slow-mo gore of desperate boxing.

It's a little predictable. The town of Pirau (meaning "rotten") is hypocritically homophobic. The butchest characters turn out to be the queerest. Jim (engaging Jordan Oosterhof) is ill-at-ease from beginning to end with the role of boxer that his father (obviously wanting his son to be what he couldn't) pushes him into - shades of "Tea and Sympathy" (1956) - and the central issue of him finding his sexuality is familiar. What happens to Whetu (Conan Hayes), a young Maori femme on the way to spread his, um, wings in Sydney, comes as little surprise. There are some surprises and subtlety, though. In a single gesture and a few seconds of action, our view of Whetu's role changes 180 degrees - or perhaps that should be basement to penthouse.

As usual in Aotearoa, the scenery threatens to steal the show, in this case the dunes of, probably, southern Kaipara, generally filmed in a gloomy afternoon light. The sex is poetic and inexplicit, fitting well into the storyline.

A couple of things strain credulity, high tech video gear in a remote shack far from the grid, and a high school boxer being set up in a high-stakes bout when he's so far never been seen in a ring with an opponent. But the ending is feel-good, if not what you might expect.

Really problematic

[laduqesa · 3/10 · 12 July 2023]

My first problem was the enormous difficulty I had in believing for even a nanosecond that Conan Hayes playing Whetu was a Maori. The second was imagining that twenty six year old Jordan Oosterhof as Jim Richardson was a seventeen year old boxer. Yes, he was fit and did a good impression of punching to a lay person like me but his pretty face, with its unbroken nose, was completely unconvincing.

The other unconvincing thing was the burgeoning friendship between Whetu and Jim. That Jim put his arm round Whetu in front of small-minded townsfolk just didn't compute. Even more so when this gave Ron leverage over him.

Tim Roth as Dad gave a good performance but what else what would we have expected?

The cast tried their best with a mediocre script that just didn't gel with the supposed characters of the players. Lyrical outbursts were just not appropriate to the personalities of the situation of a small hick town.

As the film rushed to its conclusion, few loose ends were resolved. Arson, betting, breach of contract, imminent death, relationships. Everything was left in the air. While we were wondering about this, the film ended with the performance of a song of such cloying sentimentality that I nearly gagged.

So, there were a few good moments but most of the film was incoherent. I cannot really recommend it.

Punched out

[rufkdlk · 8/10 · 13 June 2023]

I am impressed by the allegory of fighting to get out, of your hometown, your surroundings, that which is known. Jordan Oosterhof who stirs the same feelings Matt Damon did 30 years ago fights to win and as a girlfriend says, he is a beast. Running nude on a beach, he encounters Colin Hayes, half Maori and all gay. Encountering a jellyfish, he renders first aid to our fallen hero. Things proceed between them as expected.

Antihero Tim Roth of Pulp Fiction fame is a dad who needs his son to win but as a drunk, he has limitations. Local gymowners want a piece of son Jim and a piece of Maori Waitu too so they conspire to coach Jim to win for them. Dad has an issue and tries to stand up for his son. He doesn't need to escape so he does. Maybe Waitu waiting? Maybe not? Freedom.

A decent premise let down by awful screenplay

[bunny-blu · 2/10 · 18 September 2023]

This movie had a decent enough premise, good acting, some beautiful visuals and atmospheric cinematography, but it was ultimately let down by the awful screenplay.

Firstly, the movie was too long. Some scenes were unnecessarily dragged out, some scenes were just plain unnecessary. Also, some lines were cringy and unrealistic, and some twists and turns of the story didn't feel natural at all.

Another issue is that the characters personalities have continuity problems; they seem to do things out of character a little too often for the viewer to really develop any understanding of them. This isn't the actors fault, who do their best with the script and deliver reasonable performances. The problem, as mentioned, is the script. Some developments just don't make sense.

There are a lot of loose ends too. I'm all for leaving some things to the imagination of the viewer, not everything has to be spelled out, but this movie really takes the cake. At 1 hour 38 minutes long, you'd think there would be enough time for a satisfying end for a simple story like this one. Unfortunately, so much of the beginning and middle is wasted on boring scenes that don't add anything to the story, and then the end is an odd sequence of disjointed what-nexts for the main characters.

The writer really needs to get someone sensible to make sure their story checks out before going to production, and they also need to get a decent editor to chop and organize the scenes properly.

I had big hopes when I heard Tim Roth was in this movie but he really wasn't given a lot to work with.

Overall a disappointing movie which could've been a lot better.

New Zealand Boxing needs this Film

[bennyaha · 3/10 · 30 July 2022]

Punch is a nice film that is really needed in today for New Zealand Boxing which currently battles Homophobia and toxic masculinity. Jordan Oosterhof who plays the boxer has obviously done well to maintain his fitness for the film but the true star of this movie is Conan Hayes. The writing with Conan Hayes was great and you can tell he did amazing job with is with portraying a gay teenage Maori boy in a small town who sells his body to make money.

Negatives One major problem i had is the lack of trigger warning before seeing the film for the rape scene in the movie. On the technical side of things, you can tell the film makers did not get a boxing consultant, advisor or an expert for the little things that make a major difference eg, lack of weigh in scene, officials not wearing the right attire, glove size, weight division has the lead did not look like he was a welterweight. The lead of the film who plays a 17 year old turning pro is also wouldnt be allowed in modern times, however if he was 18 it would be. On top of that I can tell that the film makers didn't involve the New Zealand LGBT Boxers in the film which also would have been a big difference, especially New Zealand boxing gay judge. The ending felt a bit incomplete. On top of that the Jordan Oosterhof character had a hobby making music videos was editing a video at the end of the film of Conan Hayes using footage from earlier in the film during which Conan Hayes character was alone right before he got raped, on a technical side was a big screw up and a bit out of taste.

Positives The composition of the music was great. The story telling was great. Boxing really played a minor part of the film where the friendship between these two characters were really the main focus of the film. It also addresses issues still affecting LGBT community today especially in small towns and in the sport of boxing. The story behind the two main characters were great and effective.

Overall the movie was nice but had a lot of technical issues especially in the boxing part.

An incredibly moving film featuring superb actors performance

[elicem-cohen · 9/10 · 1 January 2024]

It is difficult for me to understand some of the negative reviews that have been made here. This movie is a gem that has been kept secret.

First and foremost, the cinematic experience takes place in a little town located in New Zealand. It provides a look into their lives in that seemingly small town located in the middle of nowhere. As a result, it provides us with an understanding of how far New Zealand has come and their viewpoints on LGBTI issues compared to Australia, the USA, or many European countries, on a positive note, despite the fact that New Zealand is a very tiny country and even though homophobia exists in such rural areas as the film also shows. This is another value added by the film when viewed in this social and cultural context.

The performances of young actors are really impressive. The father, along with two other significant characters, give outstanding performances.

It would have been possible for the movie to delve more deeply into love scenes or create a happy ending, but those are questions that are left up to your imagination to answer. Hence, I gave it 9 out of 10. Gay movies can end with a happy finale which never does.

A Glorified Mess

[cahidi · 4/10 · 2 July 2023]

The movie itself was done adequately, if you ask me. The drama was good, the conflict was on point, the plot was fine. Then what's with the considerably low rating, you ask? Oh, it's because I don't like stories which end up as a big pile of poop. Yeah, there were so many problems in this movie that didn't come with any good solutions. Strike one, there's Jim who slept with Whetu while having a girlfriend. He never sorted it out with his girlfriend. Then there's Whetu's rape case which never got any justice, just like his lame school who defended bullies. What a crappy school and a crappy law system they have? That's strike two. Then there's Jim's boxing career which didn't got any closure. Did he continue to pursue his dream or not? The ending was unclear about that. That's strike three for me. And the thing that I don't like the most is that they packed this story as a beautiful drama. Which is a HUGE lie! Cause all I get from this movie is the conclusion that life sucks. And I don't need to watch this movie to get it, cause I face that fact everyday! I don't need it from my source of entertainment! When I watch a movie, I expect to get some closure and justice! Not a reminder of how sucky this life can be. So if you feel the same way about life like I do, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!