Sports are hugely popular, and have become engrained into modern culture in ways that other pursuits haven't. There are large sections of daily newspapers dedicated to sports, the nightly news will include a sports segment, and there are entire channels committed to not just watching sports but discussing them in depth. This has become very normalised, in ways that you don't get for things such as the arts, and most people just see sports as one of those things that is everywhere. Despite that, sports tends not to make its way to the movies all too often. There are exceptions to that, and we're not without sports films, but compared to its prevalence elsewhere it's strange that it's not a bigger genre.
One sport that tends to make the translation to film a lot, however, is boxing. Boxing movies allow the creators to skip over having to manage a large cast that would come with team sports, and instead focus on one persons story. And boxing movies are often more than just boxing; they're stories of a person overcoming some difficulty, or pushing themselves harder than they thought possible in order ton pursue a dream. Bobcat Moretti fits nicely into this mould, and whilst it doesn't do anything new or innovative with the genre, it still tells an engaging story that ticks all the boxes that fans would want.
The film begins by introducing us to our titular character, Bob Moretti (Tim Realbuto), a man in his late thirties who has found himself overweight and sick following a personal tragedy that saw his wife killing their son before turning a gun on herself. Pushing past the doctors insistence that his pain must be psychological, he's eventually diagnosed with MS, multiple sclerosis. Struggling to take care of his elderly mother, who's suffering with dementia, he eventually moves back to LA to stay with his brother and his family after their mother passes.
With the opportunity to do anything in front of him, but weighed down by his grief and his diagnosis, Bob struggles to know what to do with his life. He eventually comes across an old boxing guy run by Jo (Vivica A. Fox), who agrees to take Bob on as a janitor. She also agrees to help train him in order to help him manage his grief and improve his physical health. Thus begins a story that will see Bob, now nicknamed Bobcat, moving on to a new chapter of his life; but it's one that's far from easy.
Bobcat Moretti is clearly a small movie, and it has some issues that you do come across with some indie productions, chiefly with the audio not quite being perfect all the time, but it's also clear that a ton of passion has gone into making the film. Realbuto co-wrote the film alongside director Rob Margolies, and the scenes in which Bob is dealing with the trauma that he's carrying with him are some of the better moments in the film, and Realbuto sells it well, delivering some scenes that any actor would be proud of. However, it's his physical transformation during the movie that's perhaps the most surprising.
Midway through the film there's a skip of several months, during which Bob has dropped a lot of weight. The first time we see the transformed Bob I had a moment of confusion as to what the film had done. It looked like Bob, yet he'd clearly lost a lot of weight. I considered that they'd recast him with another actor who was incredibly similar looking, or even that the film had used some very good prosthetics to make him look larger earlier on. The truth is so much simpler, and much more impressive. Realbuto lost 70kg (11 stone) midway through the film. This is the kind of physical transformation some actors will do for a role before a movie, so to see it happen during one is hugely impressive, and speaks to the level of dedication that the lead has for the film.
Alongside Realbuto, Vivica A. Fox is the films top billed actor, and is perhaps one of the bigger names in the movie (apart from a cameo from the hugely famous Coolio, but I'm not sure that counts). Getting Fox for the film was definitely a big thing, and it helps Bobcat Moretti stand out from other independent movies filled with largely unknown names. I'll admit, it was seeing her name on the cast list that initially grabbed my attention. But, Fox isn't just here to give the film credibility, as she plays the role of Jo well. A lot of boxing movies have an older, experienced trainer for our leads to connect with, and Fox fills that kind of role here, and does many of the things that you'd expect. However, she brings a degree of warmth and care to the role that in so many other films often comes across as the 'grouchy' older guy. The fact that a role that's normally given to older male actors is being performed by a Black woman also makes the film stand out from the crowd.
Bobcat Moretti isn't a perfect film. There are issues throughout, and it's clear that the budget is limited in places (scenes that are supposed to include a crowd focus on a few people and put cheering voices in the background to do the rest), but it's decent despite this. The film tries, and whilst it does include many of the tropes from these kinds of movies it does do things a little different here and there too, and is trying to tell its own story. Whilst you're not going to be getting Rocky Bobcat Moretti is an enjoyable and engaging experience.
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