Here's one last review from last weekend's CineVegas action!

J.C. Chávez
2007 - Mexico (Spanish/English)

In this documentary, Y Tu Mamá También star Diego Luna frames former boxing sensation Julio César Chávez as he preparing for a fight in his "Adios" tour of America around Chávez's illustrious and controversial career both in the U.S. and Mexico.

The movie does well by interviewing a broad range of boxing pros (Don King, Don Arum, Mike Tyson) on both sides of the border about Chávez, from his beginnings in Sinaloa to his political connections in Mexico, to his relationship with his family-- and one son who is an up-and-coming boxer. Luna shoots it beautifully, and to see the decline of one of the greats (with over 100 wins to his credit) is heartbreaking. It's very similar to having watched Michael Jordan try to make a comeback to basketball. It's obvious Chávez loves boxing, but age has caught up with him and he's reluctant to let it go. Interspersed throughout are Tejano songs about the greatness of Chávez and his legend in Mexico, which can give anyone not familiar with Chávez a glimpse into that legend.

When it came around to the end, though, it did feel a little long. The filming of Chávez's last fight in Phoenix starts with his trouble sleeping the night before the fight, and goes through his son's fight on the card before the main event, to the great sequence of the son taking off his boots to give to his father, to talking with the doctors about his broken hand that ends the match. There was a lot to get through in order to see the final shot of a battered and broken man who finally has to let go, but the humanity of watching a son comfort his father in the end was redeeming.

Labels: CineVegas, Diego Luna, Julio Caesar Chavez, movies

posted by Kari at 1:49 PM