Director: Tamika Miller
Writers: Anita M. Cal, Tamika Miller
Stars: Wanda Sykes, William Stanford Davis, Bentley Green
Synopsis: A boxing trainer re-connects with the son she abandoned.
The majority of boxing movies focus on the fighters. That’s where the drama is built from, a boxer’s need to win and to prove their worth. They bring everything from their lives into that ring and we watch them work their bodies and lives into shape. The heart of the fighter is what we come to see. Even though the trainer is an important piece of that puzzle, they’re a mentor and a guide and their troubles only serve to motivate the boxer. What the filmmakers of Undercard do to great effect is to show us the complicated life of a person who was in that ring and now teaches others to survive. This film is the inner life of someone who’s no longer in the spotlight and the toll that takes. It’s a hard role to make compelling.
When a comedian makes the shift from comedy to drama there will almost always be a bit of incredulity at first, but as quick and hilarious as Wanda Sykes is, there’s no doubt she has the gravitas for drama. Her performance in Undercard never feels like she’s acting. For the whole film, the actor we know is completely transformed through body language and an imposing presence. Sykes is able to command the screen with her willingness to lay herself bare. It’s a very raw role and one that can’t be hidden behind a large cast. Sykes proves she has the moves to go toe-to-toe with anyone and everyone. This story needed an actress like her to make it compelling.
Undercard is a unique take on a redemption story. Cheryl (Sykes), who earned the fighting nickname “No Mercy,” is not just down on her luck, but battling more demons than just that of the ignominious end to her career. She’s not like other aged fighters who feel their only shot at creating a legacy is fighting for themselves. Cheryl understands her skill is more powerful when she can train others to fight like she does. The conflict lies in keeping her past from encroaching on and debilitating her present. Writers Anita M. Cal and Tamika Miller, who also directed, created a story that has depth and history to it. It’s more than a sports drama. Undercard uses sports as a way to tell a harrowing domestic drama. The layers and twists and turns of the story are as riveting as the way the film plays visually.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is the way the boxing scenes are shot. Director Miller and cinematographer Ana M. Amortegui shot most of the action from outside the ring. Not just overhead or at the level of the ring itself, but from below, where the trainers stand. These shots remind us that as much as it is Keith’s (Bentley Green) or Kordell’s (Xavier Mills) fight to win, it’s Cheryl who has everything riding on their success. This combined with the brilliant move to have Cheryl, Baba T (William Stanford Davis), and Hector (Berto Colon) completely audible during the fight, doling out advice, puts us squarely in their perspective.
If the film has a fault, it is in its antagonists. In some ways Hector functions as a bit of comic relief, but his need to refer to himself in the third person is at first confusing, then a little silly, and ends up being kind of annoying. The same goes for the very arch presentation of sleazy all-powerful boxing promoter, Bob Fox (Danny Pardo). He’s so smarmy and moustache twirling that it wouldn’t surprise us to see him lighting his cigar with a hundred dollar bill while laughing maniacally.
Even with these missteps in character, Undercard is a good boxing movie. Not only that, but it is a great domestic drama that uses boxing as a crucial common ground for Cheryl to try and make amends for the worst mistakes of her life. The performances are excellent and the story is very moving. It has a depth and emotional heft that most boxing movies can’t compete with. It’s a film well worth seeing and getting immersed in.
