Punch (2022)

★ 5.7 1h 39m IMDb

Drama

Seventeen-year old Jim is a small-town boxing hero who carries the hopes and dreams of his father Stan on his shoulders. His growing relationship with local takatāpui Māori boy, Whetu, forces him to confront the truth about his sexuality, and choose his own future.

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Cast

Tim Roth as Stan Age 64 · London, England, UK Timothy Simon Roth (born May 14, 1961) is an English actor and director. He was among the prominent British actors known as the "Brit Pack". For his performance in Rob Roy (1995), Roth won a BAFTA Awa...

Jordan Oosterhof as Jim Richardson Jordan Oosterhof is an actor, known for Shortland Street (1992), The Cul De Sac (2016) and Best Friend (2019)..

Conan Hayes as Whetu

Karl Willetts as Manager

Connor Johnston as Colin

Matt Hicks as Referee

Director Welby Ings

Cast Tim Roth, Jordan Oosterhof, Conan Hayes, Abigail Laurent, Karl Willetts, Connor Johnston, Matt Hicks, Simon McConnon, Stephanie Cope, Sage Klein

bennyaha 4/10 Jul 30, 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.

bennyaha 4/10 Aug 02, 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.