PUNCH (THINK FILM/BRIGHTLIGHT PICTURES, 2002)

By Rick Jackson

You won't want to miss Punch, one of this year's big surprises at the The Kingston Canadian Film Festival. Writer‑director Guy Bennett has come up with an impressive debut largely helped by a strong cast.

After introducing Dr. Sam Frizzell and his daughter Ariel, you are immersed in a blow‑by‑blow interrogation into their lives. The father, well played by Michael Riley, wants only the best for his daughter. When he brings home a date, Mary (Marcia Laskowski), the owner of a photo shop, the daughter feels her father can do better. She also is jealous and becomes enraged. Shocked by this behaviour, Sam must come to terms with Ariel and try to restore his short‑term relationship with Mary. Along the way, he meets Julie (Meredith McGeachie), Mary's sister, who also happens to be the undefeated champion of women's topless boxing.

This is not a carbon copy of Girlfight (2000), Karyn Kusama's directorial effort about a dysfunctional family and the triumph of an underdog fighting the odds. Altruistically speaking, Punch is also about a dysfunctional family trying to move on after the death of a loved one, a wife/mother who committed suicide.

When Sam suddenly realizes when he brings home a potential new soul mate that Ariel has become both a daughter and pseudo‑wife, he must separate the two for the sake of his needs as a man. At the same time, Ariel must learn to satisfy her needs which she is reluctant to do. Her bouts of jealous rage and temperament are not like her. However, the father innately realizes she is reaching out in another way. Since she was too young when her mother died, she doesn't understand the difference between loving your daughter and lover at the same time. The lines become confused in Ariel's mind and she lashes out at him. She actually sees her father as fulfilling the roles of both parents and there are concomitant circumstances.

In his original screenplay based partly on his own life experiences as a single father to his real‑life daughter, Sonja Bennett, who plays Ariel, the story hits home for him personally. For us watching, it represents the single parent family from the husband's point of view.

Sonja imbues her character with such brutal honesty and conviction, you hope she will eventually find her way to happiness and let her father do likewise. By film's end, she becomes a better person because she has figuratively and literally fought to make the necessary changes in order to grow from adolescence to adulthood.

Laskowski and McGeachie are uncannily portray sisters and their interaction with each other contribute to understanding the heartbeat of any relationship. The former's growth from her owlish appearance and shyness to a person with a more sure‑footing and determination to succeed is a revelation. Despite McGeachie's strong feminine attributes, she comes to realize that she, too, has her own set of needs which need to fulfilled. She need not feel she is fighting back at the world in the boxing ring.

Punch delivers a strong ensemble cast with memorable performances. Don't miss it.

February 22, 2003