The Day of the Fight is rarely seen, but essential viewing for anybody who takes cinema, or Kubrick, seriously. It encompasses one day in the life of a boxer in New York City in 1951, and is beautifully filmed (Kubrick at the camera) and structured, with the audience knowing throughout that the day will end in a fight, so there is built-in tension about that upcoming bout, and who will win. The voice-over is tightly written by Kubrick, and his writing is only one of many suggestions of the scope of the filmmaker's gifts. Two examples: A scene where the fighter is at home playing with his dog while the voice-over talks about the brutality the man employs in the ring-- terrific contrast in moods. And the audio is perfect: the only time Kubrick films with sound is when the boxer enters the ring-- then you hear crowd sounds, announcers, everything. Until then, it's a documentary with voice-over. It really is a minor work of an important genius.
Review of Day of the Fight
