Movie Review: First Match

First Match *** / *****

Directed by: Olivia Newman.

Written by: Olivia Newman.

Starring: Elvire Emanuelle (Monique), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Darrel), Colman Domingo (Coach Castile), Jharrel Jerome (Omari), Kim Ramirez (Lucila), Jared Kemp (Malik).

 

You’d be forgiven if you heard the basic plot outline of First Match – a black teenage girl from Brooklyn joins the boys wrestling team, and dismissed it as another generic, inspirational sports movie. To be sure, that film – which we have seen many times before – could easily have been made out of this material. But writer/director Olivia Newman has her film take some interesting, unexpected turns. I’m not sure they all make a lot of sense logically speaking, but the result is a tougher film, which suits its protagonist just fine.

 

That protagonist is Monique (Elvire Emanuelle), who when the film opens is being thrown out of yet another foster home. She is given another chance, with another foster mom, Lucila (Kim Ramirez), a quiet, caring woman who basically only speaks Spanish who does seem more concerned about the baby she hopes to adopt than Monique – but is nice enough anyway. What Monique really wants is to live with her dad when he gets out of jail – not realizing until she runs into him on the street that Darrel (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is already out – and didn’t come to find her. He was once a high school wrestling champ, so to impress him, she decides to join the boys team herself. She’s tough – wiry and muscular, and after a few scenes of the kind that most movies like this would be entirely made up from, she is accepted by the team. The Coach (Colman Domingo) isn’t quite the inspirational style coach you’re used to seeing either – the kind who will do anything for his athletes. He cares for them – but is realistic. They’ll only get out of wrestling what they put into it.

 

From here, the film takes some let’s say interesting choices. While Monique and Darrel do grow closer, and bond over her wrestling, and talk of a future opening a car wash in North Carolina, Darrel has other things on his mind. He was determined to stay clean when he got out – but soon he’s slipping, and working for the same guy he was when he was arrested and put away. This is Juan – and he has a lot of side hustles – including some underground fights. Monique is tough now, you see. Surely she’d want to make some money?

 

This is a father/daughter movie at heart – but one a more complicated one than most. Darrel does pressure Monique into doing some unbelievably stupid things – yet he does love her in a way. He has a warped view of what makes one tough – and what will make her successful. Their relationship is really what holds the film together, even after it does some things that threaten the narrative of the film to spin out of control. The performances are central to that – smart, subtle work from both actors that never telegraph everything, never spell everything out.

 

First Match is ultimately a small, well told story about a teenage girl who makes a host of bad decisions, but still tries to get on the right track. There are things she does here that in many movies would make you lose sympathy for her – but here, it serves to flesh out her character. At the end of the movie she’s learned something – perhaps not enough to not keep making mistakes, but enough that she wants to move forward, and define her own life.