Word: girlfight
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...expect 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...
...Girlfight director Karyn Kusama says Rodriguez has "tremendous presence...she's interesting to watch even when she's standing still." The director also believes her star may be too complex, too edgy, too real for mainstream filmmaking's limitations. "Hollywood is probably in many respects not the place for her, as far as I'm concerned," says Kusama. "She could be a huge star. She should be. But she can never just be the rote girlfriend. I hope she'll find more roles than just that. But there are a lot of girlfriend roles out there...
...person Rodriguez looks more like a Maxim cover girl than a pugilist (she has dropped 10 lbs. since Girlfight wrapped). But when she speaks, she talks tough, skipping the float-like-a-butterfly thing and going right for the bee sting. How is she finding Hollywood so far? "I've met a lot of hypocrites." How did she approach her part? "I pretended it was a rap song, and I would recite my lines and recite them until I got the rhythm of it." Whom does she admire? "I freakin' love [martial-arts star] Michelle Yeoh! She kicks ass, like...
...Since Girlfight, Rodriguez has signed on to play a cabbie in the drama 3 am (co-starring Danny Glover) and a car racer's girlfriend in the movie Redline (with Vin Diesel). She's getting plenty of offers, but she is searching for meaningful roles. "[Screenwriters] keep going at it with the same fantasy formula," she says, "and it affects women because it's the fantasies of these old white men. It's all about satisfying their egos, and I see it through the work. And it's tiring. It makes movies predictable...
...could call Girlfight a new kind of corny. But this isn't the heroic treacle of the NBC Olympics. Like the better indie films, Girlfight dares to play sentiment straight. It makes boxing a civilizing occupation; learning to do something well turns a girl with too much attitude into a woman--almost a lady. The camera performs some fancy footwork, but the film is closer to John Sayles than to Martin Scorsese. It gives its fine actors room to breathe and behave--and in Michelle Rodriguez's case, glow...