Last week I got a call from Funny Women Executive producer, Lynne Parker, asking me to attend the press screening of the new British feature film 'Bloody Lip'.
"It's about boxing," said Lynne, to which I groaned.
Now, I don't get on very well with boxing films since I have terrible memories of bawling my eyes out to 'The Champ' (Franco Zeffirelli, 1979) at a young age and 'Million Dollar Baby' (Clint Eastwood, 2004) at not such a young age. However, I went along on the reassurance that this was a comedy film and there would be no need for the Kleenex.
Director and writer, Adriel Leff, has coined the phrase 'Boxumentary' to sum up his comedy boxing mockumentary. The directorial debut from Leff sees new talent Patrick Koupland as working class boy, Patrick StGeorge Junior preparing for the fight of his life against childhood rival Liam O'Saink (an appreciated play on dialect).
The film stars 2011 Funny Women Awards finalist, Bekka Bowling, as Patrick's long suffering, middle class, on-off girlfriend, Bekka. The couple's dynamic proved to be my favourite element of the film. Their conversations on the sofa was were the comedy felt most natural and both actors have great comedy timing.
Overall, the film is a little rough round the edges. But, the script was very promising and tissues were only required to wipe away the tears of laughter.
On a side note, we are really looking forward to seeing Bekka appear in Sue Perkin's new BBC sitcom 'Heading Out', due to be screened in the new year.
Hannah Moulder, Uncanned Productions
