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Film Review: Gensan Punch (2021) by Brillante Mendoza

A Japanese boxer with a prosthetic leg in the Philippines

Following a recipe that looks much more like “Alpha: The Right to Kill” than “Mindanao”, got inspiration from the biography of Naozumi Tsuchiyama, a Japanese boxer with a prosthetic leg who went to the Philippines to train in Gensan, a famous boxing quarter which has spawned worldwide stars such as the legendary Manny Pacquiao.

The story starts with the aforementioned Nao failing to get a permit to become a professional boxer, since the Japanese Boxing Committee considers his prosthetic leg a safety hazard. Frustrated but resolved, Nao decides to leave for General Santos City in the Philippines, in order to train in the gym and acquire the permit from a country that seems to be a bit more lenient towards his situation. While the gym looks like a dystopian setting, and the communication is somewhat difficult from the beginning, Nao soon finds himself becoming the member of a big family, since the whole endeavor is run by owner Ben, his wife Mina and their daughter Melissa, while all the fighters also help in various odd jobs. No one seems to be bothered by his prosthetic leg, and he soon finds out that the only thing he has to do to acquire the permit is to win in three consecutive fights. The Japanese soon starts getting closer to his trainer Rudy, in a relationship that moves into father-son territory, but his way to his goal is anything but easy. 

Implementing an approach that borrows much from documentaries, Mendoza directs a rather realistic film that focuses on presenting the world of boxing in all its glory and struggle, with the mentorship, the training, the fights, and the bureaucracy taking center stage, essentially pushing the main character to the background. The approach is rather unusual, since the base for a hard-core drama was definitely there, particularly considering the specifics of the protagonist, but in the end, it is easy to say that it works very well, with Nao embodying all those low-level boxers and the struggles they have to face in order to achieve even the slightest shred of success. The fact that his artificial leg is not exploited in any way for dramatic reasons, essentially becoming just another obstacle Nao has to overcome, also adds much to the overall aesthetics, as Mendoza completely avoids any kind of melodramatic premise. 

This however, does not mean that the film is completely void of drama. The relationship between Nao and Rudy, the fate of Bon Jovi, another boxer in the gym, and Nao's past take care of that aspect also, even if the focus lies elsewhere. Lastly, the comments about the differences in how the system in the Philippines and Japan works, what constitutes a family, and the benefits of not giving up, round up a rather intriguing narrative. 

The overall approach Mendoza implemented benefits the most by the rather naturalistic performance of , who is truly convincing in all aspects of his character, including as a foreigner who tries to adapt, as a handicapped but rather resolved fighter, as a young man who is searching for some kind of fatherly connection, and lastly, as a rather polite individual that barely ever gets angry, in an aspect that makes the sole moment he does, even more intense. Granted, the way the film is shot does not give much chance to the audience to truly get to know Nao, but Shogen's acting definitely compensates in that regard, as he presents a character that is rather difficult not to like. 

Joshua A. Reyles's cinematography also implements the documentary-style approach to perfection, with the camera following the plethora of fights from a rather short distance, without, though, “glorifying” the violence of the sport, since the consequences of the hits are presented through their aftermath (with wounds in faces for example) and not as blood-sputtering moments. In combination with Ysabelle Denoga's editing, Mendoza implements his trademark fluidity in the way the movie unfolds, an aspect that definitely fits the overall aesthetics and adds to the entertainment the movie offers. 

Brillante Mendoza seems on occasion, that he was not completely sure on the path he wanted his film to follow, and the fact is that the flashbacks of Nao's past and even more so, a romantic notion that is also included, could have been completely omitted. Apart from that, however,  “Gensan Punch” emerges as a rather captivating movie that presents the world of amateur boxing realistically, through the portrait of a captivating man. 

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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