Marian Álvarez

The first half of this movie may be tasteless: there is this bunch of girls and boys living in the working class suburbs of Madrid around the boxing club, some action, some sex, not going nowhere, but soon the characters begin to sharpen, the story takes shape around persons and groups. One can expect things to get bad in any moment but psychology takes over easy violence on the screen and the second half is a much more captivating linear part, where the characters have more convincing roles. Nathalia Verbeke is amazing, once again!, in a new and physically demanding role. Can’t keep from comparing her with Hilary Swank performance in Million Dollar Baby.