Girlfight

A volatile African American schoolgirl living in New York's projects decides to take up boxing, and inevitably faces incomprehension from her friends and opposition from her father, the kids already training at the gym, and, eventually, her boyfriend, who's reluctant to face her in the ring. At it's most basic, the story is pretty conventional. That said, however, Kusama's direction is imaginative, her attention to detail makes for credibility and clarity with regard to the dilemmas faced by her determined young heroine, and Rodriguez is quite astonishing in the lead role: tough, scary, stubborn, intelligent, and, when she finally lets down her defences, sweet, vulnerable and tender.