Fighting Girl (2018)

Directed by: Johan Timmers | 84 minutes | action, drama | Actors: Imanuelle Grives, Aiko Beemsterboer, Bas Keijzer, Noa Farinum, Ali Ben Horsting, Hilde De Baerdemaeker, Rein Hofman, Mighty Mika, Dyon Wilkens, Adnane Atallah, Luna Becking, Dioni Jurado-Gomez, Dana Goldberg

As a result of her parents’ divorce, the life of twelve-year-old Bo (Aiko Beemsterboer) has been turned upside down. The fact that her parents, in their constant bickering, forget to take into account the feelings of the girl and her brother Dani (Bas Keijzer) puts serious pressure on the mutual relationships. In fact, Bo walks around with so much pent-up anger that she’s starting to become a danger to her environment. Her weak brother’s bullies have already paid for it. A solution does not seem in sight, all the more so because her parents are increasingly reacting to each other with the upcoming custody lawsuit.

But then one day Bo sees how neighbor Joy (Noa Farinum) loses her kickboxing gloves on the street. She decides to follow the girl to an apparently abandoned factory hall. However, it turns out that a real kickboxing school is housed within the stately building. Bo looks her eyes out. She also likes the intensity with which the other children can use their strengths. She’s just never fought in a sports competition before. Is she good enough to enter the boxing ring at all? She doesn’t like participating for bacon and beans. She wants to be a champion. However, this requires the necessary calm and control. Can she bring it up, while her parents continue to fight each other out, to keep the calm and bring her club the youth championship of the Netherlands for the first time in years?

Parents who behave like children and children who have to grow up quickly due to circumstances. It is a fairly one-dimensional and not very original angle that ‘Fight Girl’ struggles with for a long time. It’s understandable that Bo’s anger has to come from somewhere. But now her parents’ cartoonish divorce is nothing more than a tool to introduce her to the kickboxing world. The emotional tragedy that accompanies such breakups remains largely on the surface in ‘Fight Girl’. This is reflected in the initially cringe-inducing voice-over and the dialogues put into the mouth. Subtlety and credibility are hard to find.

Once Bo has started her classes at the kickboxing school, and her parents fade into the background, ‘Fight Girl’ becomes a lot more fluid and convincing. With increasing aggression, both controlled and uncontrolled, the film finds a certain efficiency that was sorely missing before. This is partly because the young characters are given the space to go through their own development. The acting and the mutual chemistry of the young actors also get off the ground better. Although the high ‘Rocky’ content keeps up the struggle with credibility and predictability, the fresh enthusiasm and girl power make up for a lot.