Redbelt (Mamet, 2008) — Chiwetel Ejiofor's jiu-jitsu movie
 

Redbelt

<img src="http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/8273/redbeltzy6.jpg">

Written and Directed by David Mamet
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Allen(?)

Set in the west-side of Los Angeles fight world, a world inhabited by bouncers, cage-fighters, cops and special forces types, Redbelt, is the story of Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Jiu-Jitsu teacher who has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing instead to pursue an honorable life by operating a self-defense studio with a samurai’s code. Terry and his wife Sondra (Alice Braga), struggle to keep the business running to make ends meet. An accident on a dark, rainy night at the Academy between an off duty officer (Max Martini) and a distraught lawyer (Emily Moritimer) puts in motion a series of events that will change Terry’s life dramatically introducing him to a world of promoters (Ricky Jay, Joe Mantegna) and movie star Chet Frank (Tim Allen). Faced with this, in order to pay off his debts and regain his honor, Terry must step into the ring for the first time in his life.

<a href="http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/redbelt/hd/">HD Trailers</a>

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At first I was lukewarm but once I saw that David Mamet is involved, I was all in. It's also nice to see some Mamet regulars (especially Ricky Jay). And look, there's Dirt Diver too.

I hope this gets more than just a limited release.

Mamet, eh? I bet I know what the top three prizes in the tournament are. ;)

A David Mamet karate movie with Tim Allen? Weird to say the least.

Cool to see Chiwetel Ejiofor get a lead part especially in a Mamet film.

Cool - didn't know about this. I'm a big fan of Mamet and love Ejiofor's work as well.

On a side note, if you've never seen Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things starring Ejiofor and Amelie's Audrey Tautou, give it a rental at least. Great film, written by the screenwriter of Eastern Promises.

Looks good. I definately want to see this.

:lol:

Looking forward to this.

Sorry, I love BJJ, but its pretty boring if you don't understand the nuances of it, and to try and make it exciting is going to be pretty unrealistic... But I guess its got to be better than Never Give In.

I'm in.

It's Mamet, man. He made selling land interesting.

I wouldn't call this a "karate" movie.

Weird, yes. After seeing the trailer I thought it didn't look awful. That's a start.

Looks interesting. I agree that trying to make BJJ interesting and fun to watch is not realistic unless epic music and a insane story line is used

I met "Chewie" at a hostel in Paris right before his first big movie. My buddy and I had checked into one of those community hostel rooms and our roommates turned out to be Chewie and a friend of his from London. We all grabbed dinner together one night and they told us they were actors and in Paris to check out mime schools. He was very nice. It was 1997 and he had just finished filming Amistad and told us he was going to be in this Spielberg movie coming out in the US. We thought he was full of shit. But lo and behold, there he was. Now he's been in tons of movies I like. My only cool movie star story... (although I did meet Robin Williams once in one of those NYC discount electronics stores and he was just weird).

New trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/redbelt/hd/

Limited to NY/LA on May 2. Everywhere May 9. <img src="http://www.fantasticdamage.com/blog/emot-dance.gif">

Looks interesting. I love Mamet's stuff. I'm sure I'll give it a shot.

= J

It's like the UFC meets House of Games.

Looks great.

Bump since the movie is now in general release on ~1200 screens. It's also sitting at a pretty favorable 70% on Rotten Tomatoes and 69 on Metacritic.

David Mamet writes and directs "Redbelt", a story about Mike Terry, who runs a jiu-jitsu training spot, and happens to save an actor from a bar beatdown, and finds his whole life turned upsidedown in ways he could have never forseen. Chiwetel Ejiofor anchors "Redbelt" with steady grace as Mike, who is honorable in his outlook with martial arts when it comes to prize-fighting (having eschewed it for his entire life), but faces such an predicament as financial times hit him hard.

Give it to Mamet to turn even this sort of story into a film with good solid dialogue and criss-crossing motives from almost everyone in the story, producing twists and turns that confuse Mike and keep the audience guessing as to how it will all unfold. The cast is solid, Mamet fans will enjoy seeing appearances from his stable of actors from Mamet's previous films and TV efforts.

Saw it last night, but after sleeping on it, I give the films 3 stars, or a grade of B.

I really liked this film. I liked how the film is a MMA film with less focus on fights and more attention to philosophy. Ejiofor rocks.

Just got back from watching this. I really enjoyed it. Going in, I knew it had some martial arts aspects to it, but that's about it. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that David Mamet was the write/director and it wasn't just another "Karate" flick.

Great performances by everyone.

Caught a matinee this morning/afternoon. Definitely one of the better movies I've seen this year. Ejiofor is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors.

Saw this today (early afternoon in a practically empty theatre).
I absolutely LOVED it. I love David Mamet's writing and direction, especially his refusal to 'summarize' everything for the audience. It makes the movie feel so much more real, because we aren't flat-out told why certain characters are in certain situations (ie: the lawyer at the beginning).
This is the first movie in quite a few years that I've wanted to see again right after it ended. I had to resist... although I may end up caving in and going again tomorrow.
I feel sorry for the two teenagers who appeared to 'sneak in' as soon as the previews started. I think they were expecting Never Back Down 2 or something. ;)

Glad to hear it's good. I've wanted to see it anyway.

Was pleasantly surprised with this movie as for the most part it was really good... A few hokey parts, but honestly, when dealing with martial arts movies, especially BJJ, you have to add that as real life is incredibly boring and not transferable to film at all. Ejiofor was great, and of all the special appearances, I thought Jean-Jacque Machado did the best. One of my favs of the year so far.