Redbelt (2008)

Written and Directed by David Mamet

There are few writers in the world where a person can sit down, start watching a film right in the middle, and just from the dialogue, be able to identify the writer. Quentin Tarantino is one of those writers. Hunter Thompson and Chuck Palahniuk's works also speak a unique language of their own. The last of these unique writers is David Mamet, whose repetitive, rhythmic dialogue can always be easily identified, but not as easily classified as the writers previously mentioned. When watching his movies, people know they are listening to something different, but for most moviegoing audiences, they can't quite put their finger on what they are hearing, or why.

Such is the case with many of the plots to Mamet's films, at least until the very last moments typically, where everything is on the table, and even then, the bulk of the story is in the words unsaid, the actions not shown, and the feelings not expressed. Redbelt continues this legacy, with Mamet taking on a new world entirely with the world of Mixed Martial Arts fighting. Mike Terry (Chiwetele Ejiofor) is a well respected, world class Brazilian Jiu Jitsu teacher. The catch is, he doesn't believe in fighting for competition, he is content to run his small school and barely squeeze a living from his teaching.

This changes when a strange set of events all conspire to push the plot of the movie forward, and the way they connect doesn't feel anything like a movie plot, because it is in fact such a well devised set of plot points that get the movie going. Really, to reveal anything about the plot would be a disservice to the potential viewer, so I'll put it this way: The series of events leads Mike to the fight of his life, and along the way we learn where and why Mike has developed the principals he lives by.

The film costars Mamet regular Joe Mantegna as Jerry, a Hollywood film producer, Tim Allen as Chet Frank, a movie star so unlike (or is it identical?) the real Tim Allen, it might just freak you out. Ed O'Neill (another Mamet regular) pops in for a quick cameo, and what's interesting is his real life participation in Jiu Jitsu is what inspired Mamet to write this film. With his typical eclectic cast, Mamet ventures out on another moral meditation on a section of culture, the world really, that is sure to keep you guessing and learning as the film powers towards its unexpected and unconventional ending.

As with all of Mamet's films, like the writing, the direction, sound, and cinematography all reek of an overstaged nature, but at the same time, that is precisely the only reason they work. Mamet is a perfectionist engineer who seemingly edits with a third eye, finding the entire picture as he lets piece by piece fall into place perfectly next to the last, precisely where it should fit, where Mamet has known it will always fit. There are few filmmakers with the level of articulate perfectionism as Mamet, and even fewer that make such brave and startling pictures, and fewer yet that have the audacity to release them as big budget motion pictures instead of small, arthouse films. While you will be hard pressed to see Mamet make an Academy Award style film, each one is a short breath of unrecognized genius, somewhere beyond mainstream film culture. Mamet's films are as close to real art in modern American cinema as you will find, it's just a pity so few recognize them as such and take part.

9.2/10