When the middleweight boxer played by Orlando Bloom in “The Cut,” a strenuous ring drama directed by Sean Ellis, visits a children’s hospital during a charity outing, he offers advice to a gravely ill patient. Pointing to his temple, he whispers, “This is where you win.”
It’s true that in the sport sometimes called “the sweet science,” the mental game can be as crucial as its physical counterpart. Bloom’s would-be comeback kid, who is never given a name, struggles mightily in both departments. He needs to shed more than 32 pounds to make weight, and his efforts to get there are apt to cost him his mind.
The movie’s depiction of its milieu is unsparing. We see Bloom unclogging a toilet at the gym, washed-up and contemplating a comeback. We see him shoving fingers down his throat, a walking eating disorder even before the weight-loss directive. When a vicious trainer played by John Turturro takes command, things get even bleaker. The boxer’s wife, Caitlin (Caitriona Balfe), knows that the regimen is practically killing her man but also that the ring is where he finds meaning.
The hole in his soul is explained — a bit — through flashbacks. Highlights of his Northern Ireland boyhood include his mother, an occasional sex worker, offering her services to British soldiers. As the boxer submits himself to humiliating privation, he starts to hallucinate. But the act he finally commits to make “the cut” is palpably real.
Bloom plays his role with a feral commitment, and while Turturro has portrayed several villains in his career, here his refusal to ingratiate even slightly yields a genuinely frightening characterization.
The Cut
Rated R for language, themes, violence. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. In theaters.
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