Sparring

"Sparring" (Combat, 2017) is a French boxing drama to watch online on iFILM. Mathieu Kassovitz plays Steve Landry, an aging fighter whose losses outnumber his wins and who refuses to quit. Director Samuel Jouy keeps everything small and unglamorous.

Steve accepts a job as sparring partner to a rising contender — which means getting hit so someone more talented can sharpen his form. Real professional boxer Souleymane M'Baye plays the opposing corner, and the ring sequences have a blunt physicality that stunt work rarely delivers.

No miracle comeback. "Sparring" is about the last stretch of an athletic life: what a man will absorb, and what it costs him. Stream "Sparring" (2017) online on iFILM.