Word: dianas
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...anyone from Dawson's Creek to be moonlighting in Girlfight, the latest coming-of-age teenage tale, starring newcomer Michelle Rodriguez. Wearing army fatigues and sweats instead of the requisite cleavage bearing tank top, Rodriguez delivers a mesmerizing and fiery performance, not to mention a mean left-hook. As Diana, a troubled teen from Red Hook, a rough Brooklyn neighborhood, Rodriguez finds her salvation in the predominantly male world of amateur boxing. Capitalizing on this world of precise grace and raw aggression, Director Karyn Kusama throws sexual stereotypes and cinematic genres into the ring, creating a match...
Like many indie films, Girlfight works primarily as a character driven piece. For example, Diana's love interest and fellow boxer, Adrian, played by Santiago Douglas, must be the most attractive guy I have seen on the big screen in a long time. No, I don't mean he's hot in that Ryan Phillippe kind of way. A perfect blend of testosterone and fragility, Adrian easily wins Diana's heart; so what if she can kick his ass in the ring...
...Like Diana, the movie refuses to be confined by traditional definitions. With its charged brawls and minimalist cinematography, Girlfight is as much Jerry Springer as it is artsy indie flick. And while Diana's high school friends don't exactly look as saccharine as the Clueless chicks, Girlfight's youthful cast and plot often veer into teenybopper territory. Ultimately, however, Diana trades her sassy catfights for the more sophisticated gender-blind featherweight boxing circuit. Her subsequent struggle to be accepted by both the all-male boxing club and by her own father allows the film an emotional depth that strikes...
...Some elements do feel forced and clich, such as Tiny, Diana's brother played by Ray Santiago, who is stuck taking boxing lessons when he'd rather be designing fashions. Yet, for the most part Kusama avoids many of the tired conventions of the genres this film invokes. Unlike, say, She's All That, Diana's transformation from an offensive and frightening bitch into a beautiful and self-assured woman does not involve suddenly putting on lipstick and high heels. Instead, the way she manipulates her dark, piercing eyes, which are emphasized throughout the film, does the trick. And although...
Professors still sometimes turn into presidents, but not at Harvard. (The last two to have a shot were Baker Professor of Economics Martin S. Feldstein '61 and Andrus Professor of Genetics Philip M. Leder '56--who lost out to Rudenstine.) Wellesley plucked Diana Chapman Walsh from the School of Public Health faculty to serve as its leader...