Director: Rachel Morrison

Stars: Ryan Destiny, Brian Tyree Henry, Oluniké Adeliyi

Based on a true story, cinematographer turned director Morrison’s feature debut, a biopic of boxer Claressa Shields, scripted by Barry ‘Moonlight’ Jenkins, begins as a standard inspirational sports tale, before switching to something more interesting midway. Shields is eleven years old when she turns up at a gym in snowy Michigan where nearly-was boxer turned electrician Henry Crutchfield (Tyree Henry) coaches young male hopefuls. Despite her taciturn demeanour, Crutchfield is impressed by Shields’ determination and agrees to train her. Jump to six year later where Shields (Destiny), nicknamed ‘T-Rex’ because of her short arms, has, thanks to Crutchfield’s coaching, qualified for the Olympic trials in Shanghai. As he is not her official trainer, Crutchfield is unable to join her, and her performance suffers accordingly. He is able to accompany her, albeit in an unofficial capacity, to the London 2012 Olympics where she wins the gold. But her unvarnished media image (Claressa cheerfully admits in interviews that she boxes because she likes hitting people) along with the inherent sexism in corporate sponsoring, means Shields is unable to parlay her success into sponsorship deals and earn enough money to help her troubled family. Morrison, who shot ‘Fruitvale Station’ and ‘Black Panther’ effectively captures Claressa’s hardscrabble existence in Flint Michigan via chilly muted grey and blue tones – handily the perpetual snowfall depicted here tallied with the picture’s US Christmas release. Destiny and Tyree Henry exhibit a winning and convincing rapport, the former skilfully showing the vulnerability behind the surly façade.

David Willoughby

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