Boxing Gym

Park your assumptions and lace up your gloves as Frederick Wiseman opens the door to R. Lord’s Boxing Gym.

Glancing at R. Lord’s Boxing Gym, the space might seem as you'd expect. Beer-sponsored boxing gloves hang from the ceiling, and posters of major boxing events and Robert De Niro in Raging Bull cover the walls. But once people enter the space, the gym takes on an unexpected life. Young boys and girls enthusiastically go about their training, proud parents look on, and new parents negotiate their own training around newborns in baskets.

What soon emerges is a space where machismo has given way to diversity, and boxers are more likely to train with balletic grace than take a punch.

Curator's note
Frederick Wiseman’s films always subvert expectations. Stepping into Boxing Gym, you might expect violent bouts, sweat-soaked concrete and a space dominated by men. Instead, Wiseman’s camera captures the musicality of training: the rhythm of gloves on a speed ball, the pounding of punches on pads and the light footwork that feels close to dance. One boxer shows off his salsa to another to make his point.

In this way, Boxing Gym feels closer to one of Wiseman’s arts-institution films, helped by there barely being a bout in sight.

Boxing Gym premiered at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, where it screened in the Directors' Fortnight section.