First-time director Karyn Kusama tells a simple but compelling story of a young woman in Brooklyn whose violent impulses in school, and her tendency to physicalize her anger, lead her to train as a boxer. Her trainer at first puts her off, but the combination of her desire and her physical prowess changes his mind.
As played by Michelle Rodriguez, Diane is a scowling lightning rod for sudden violence who discovers that she can find a sense of personal grace in boxing – in the training and in the honing of skills—that seems to spill over into her daily life, despite the disapproval of an abusive father.
Kusama isn't telling a new story here, but she tells a familiar one with a sense of passion and pride in the uncharted territory this represents for women. Though a romantic subplot seems almost tacked on as an afterthought – Diane must box the boy she loves – Girlfight is engaging and even touching.
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