WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Boxing. Life can very much be like a boxing match, involving hits, misses, knockout victories, or possibly crushing defeats. As with any challenge faced, however, win or lose, its how we choose to move on or get pushed back in the aftermath that weighs most heavily on our conscious. It’s 2011 London, and the city is reeling in the wake of the shooting death of Mark Duggan by police. But, while this chaos ensues, one man faces his own unsettling internal battle. Stally (Adam J. Bernard) is attempting to find peace and a reformed life, having retired from an undefeated boxing career and other less reputable endeavors which still haunt him.
His past, though, simply won’t go away. Friends such as Pencil (Rob Peacock) boast of benefitting from the rioting as some badge of honor, while another named Chris (Santino Zicchi) pleads with Stally to aid him in getting out of his financial debts with local crime boss George (Daniel Johns) via one last fight. With his sense of hesitant loyalty to Chris bouncing around in his mind, Stally’s girlfriend Andrea (Phoebe Torrance) aka “Mermaid”, strives to be the voice of reason, encouraging him to make a decision for the better rather than one he will regret. Wrestling with every fiber of his being, Stally knows the future hangs on his verdict.
Next, my Mind:
To truly utilize a term that relates to one of the primary literal and metaphorical elements of the narrative, writer/director/co-producer Marcus Flemmings’ 57-minute effort certainly pulls no punches with its gritty tone, visceral execution, expletive-bearing dialogue, and a deeply emotionally driven lead character whose desire to see the light at the end of the tunnel is formidably tested against falling back into much darker places. To situate this struggle in the midst of the racial, economical, and class tensions involved with the Duggan shooting very much makes the exploration/illustration of Stally’s inner and outer strife that much more potent and grounded, even as he fights, again literally and figuratively, to raise his arms in victory or suffer a debilitating knockout.
Bernard puts forth a seriously impassioned performance here as Stally, a man used to winning in the ring, enjoying the benefits of those victories, but now faces what would seem to be on many levels an impossible set of alternatives in how to move on when now having to clash with the ghosts of his mistakes and simply moving on towards better horizons while others take a gut-punch for him. His seeking of these answers is harrowing and turbulent, and very well enacted by Bernard. Zicchi is equally engaging as the foul-tempered Chris, whose desperation to get out of the mess he’s created via shady dealings gone wrong is unceremoniously put on his former accomplice Stally, The resolution to the issue, while clear-cut and sensible to Chris, doesn’t go over that well with Stally, sending Chris into more calculated measures to ensure his cooperation. Zicchi embodies this colorful character quite nicely.
Torrance portrays Stally’s girlfriend Andrea aka “Mermaid” with that raw vulnerability tempered with a distinct resolve to convince him not to follow the dark path he’s potentially heading back into, even for the sake of a friend whose own bad decisions are now threatening to undermine the happiness she and Stally were beginning to experience. She becomes that pivotal point of importance for Stally to see what he’s either gaining or losing, and Torrance plays it with solid conviction. Supporting turns from Peacock, Johns, Karishma Bhandari, Thomasin Lockwood, and Carolyn English among others all add solidly to the story as well.
In total, while having to mention that the sheer amount of harsh language here became a tedious distraction at times for this reviewer personally, “Six Rounds” delivers a finely-tuned, dark, yet poignant drama that forcefully emphasizes the power of making one ultimate choice that will allow you to rise in triumph or hit the mat conquered when that final bell rings.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
