Fighting with My Family (2019)

When I first heard of Fighting with My Family earlier this year I thought, "great, another dumb movie with The Rock" and I avoided it. Then about a week ago I read a blogger saying it was fun and entertaining, even if wrestling is not your cup of tea, and I decided to give it a shot.

The film tells the true story of professional wrestler Paige/Saraya Knight (Florence Pugh). Born in a family of wrestlers, she joined the family business at 13, even though she didn't love it as much as her family, especially her brother, Zak (Jack Lowden). Five years later, both her bother and she find themselves competing for the same WWE and Saraya is the only one picked among all the participants. While she is pushed to new limits by coach Hutch (Vince Vaughn), Zak must move past his dreams of making the WWE.

The fact that it's based on a true story doesn't prevent Fighting with My Family from being a predictable "underdog overcoming the odds" tale that deals with themes of family, friendship and dedication. In other words, nothing we haven't seen before. Because of its predictability, I found the story to be unevenly engaging and occasionally boring. It does, however, do a good job at showing the hard work that goes into becoming a professional wrestler and it certainly made me appreciate this sport a bit more. 

The same can be said about the characters as they too aren't anything we haven't seen before. Still, director and writer Stephen Merchant did a pretty good job at writing human and relatable characters and developing them — although some of the relationships between the characters develop too rapidly and feel rushed because of this, like something was missing. 

Lionsgate UK, Mirror Releasing, Universal Pictures

The cast does a very good job. Florence Pugh gives an intense and believable performance as Paige, and conveys Paige's inner struggles very well. It's Jack Lowden, however, who steals the show — he has certainly the most to do as Zak must deal with disappointment, anger and envy, and he conveys all that effortlessly. As for the rest of the cast, Lena Headey and Nick Frost do a good job as the negligent but protective parents, and Vince Vaughn is not terrible in the more serious but predictable role of the tough coach. 

Fighting with My Family is also quite humorous with its mixture of British humour, slapstick and dad jokes. With all that being said, the film didn't fully work for me as I never really felt the drama, the story wasn't always engaging and entertaining, and the comedy fell flat at times. Also, The Rock, who plays himself, is barely in the film. I'm not sure that's a negative thing, though. 

 

On My Skin (2018)

I was talking with my mother the other day and that's when I found out about Alessio Cremonini's On My Skin (Italian: Sulla mia pelle), one of the first Italian movies produced by Netflix. That, however, is not the reason it caught my attention. Its subject is, it being the infamous case of Stefano Cucchi.

Just in case you are not familiar with it, on the night of October 15 2009, Stefano Cucchi (Alessandro Borghi), a 31-year-old ex-junkie, is arrested after being found in possession of some packs of hashish and 2 grams of cocaine. He is taken into custody by the Carabinieri and a week later he dies of wounds. 

The plot is very simple as it follows the last days of Stefano, who finds himself alone, denied his trusted lawyer, and at the mercy of the Carabinieri, and it unfolds very slowly. These two, however, aren't the reasons On My Skin wasn't as compelling as it could have been. The problem is that Cremonini tells the story as if he was reading a newspaper, without taking a stand. He simply tells facts, those we know for sure, and because of it, the film feels robbed. On the other hand, Cremonini does a great job at telling Stefano's story, as he leaves no doubt that the initial beating was the primary cause of death, aggravated by a lack of medical treatment in several Roman hospitals and Cucchi's initial silence as he was probably afraid of what the Carabinieri would have done to him if he were to speak up.

The performance from Alessandro Borghi as Stefano Cucchi is nothing short of outstanding. Physically reminiscent of Michael Fassbender's in Steve McQueen's Hunger, Borghi becomes Stefano as he conveys the young man's resignation and the hope that silence will get him out of the absurd situation alive. It is devastatingly haunting, heartwrenching to see his transformation from health-ish man, as he already was malnourished and very skinny, to living corpse. The rest of the cast provides solid support, especially Jasmine Trinca who brings to the screen the determination and indignation of Ilaria Cucchi, Stefano's sister.

Lucky Red, Netflix

While I wasn't very fond of the scipt and Cremonini's choice of not taking a stand, him choosing a simple production design and sets, and the clean and slick cinematography as they make the film visually striking without taking away the focus from Stefano. The music, on the other hand, feels intrusive and over-sentimental at times.