Cinderella Man
2005 · Directed by Ron Howard
Original language: English
- romance
- drama
- history
The story
The true story of boxer Jim Braddock who, following his retirement in the 1930s, makes a surprise comeback in order to lift his family out of poverty.
What it’s like
Warm amber interiors and washed-out Depression-era grey give way to cold, bluish arena light in this sepia-toned sports drama, with its 1930s New Jersey and New York streets rendered in soft grain and smoky tenement dusk. The camera stays close and steady in the boxing scenes, with jolting, sweat-speckled impacts and a restrained, mostly acoustic score that drops out to the thud of gloves and the crowd's roar. Between bouts the pace slows into long, unhurried domestic scenes: kitchen tables, coal-stove mornings, a daughter's quiet questions, a marriage tested by hunger. The emotional register is earnest and hopeful, a cozy-melancholy mix of loss and stubborn decency, following a worn-out fighter slowly rebuilding his pride and his household. Violence is real and sustained within the ring, with bruising, bloodied faces and hard punches, though it is never gratuitous and there is no sexual content. Strong for a Sunday afternoon with patient attention, and for people who like underdog stories, working-class family drama, and the sense of a hard-won comeback.
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