Small, Slow But Steady (2022) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

The deaf young "Keiko" (Yukino Kishii) has been taking comfort from her boxing since she was a child and already has two competitive bouts under her belt. With a constant stream of urban racket surrounding her, she lives in a world of silence where her only sounds are those imaginary ones created within her head. With her next competition looming, she learns that change is coming. Her fiercest critic; long-term supporter and ageing boss of her soon to close down gym (Tomokazu Miura) is suffering from failing health and as he loses his sight she must reconcile that she is to lose that oasis that has sustained and inspired her for so long. "Keiko" is not without her demons, and now facing some profound changes to her established routine, she must try to come to terms with her previous decisions and with how they should (or shouldn't) shape her future. This is set at a time when COVID was rampant, so her abilities to lip-read are curtailed by the mask-wearing population rendering her even more isolated amidst a community who see no visible impairment and so leap to ill-informed judgements about a woman whose abilities to express herself in the more conventional methods are restricted - and Kishii delivers a really quite poignant performance here. Her characterisation of a woman confident, after a fashion, only in the ring but otherwise cutting a shy and almost reticent figure in the real world is touching - but not sentimentally. You can empathise with the difficulties of her efforts to thrive in a world where her disability sets her apart, but I never felt sorry for her. She has a decency to her that she is loathe to compromise despite her limiting options and her dead-end job as a cleaner is not going to be her future. As she seeks out a new place to train we discover that she is not a woman to be willingly constrained by any sense of "comfort zone" and with some intimate photography throughout, we get a slight sense of being under her skin just as she begins to engagingly get under ours. It's a slow burn, and it's an incomplete documentary-style look at this crossroads in her life - but I found that just added to the authenticity as her story continues unfolds before us revealing elements of her tenacity and showcasing societal attitudes that are complicated.

Never (perhaps a slight exaggeration) has a film matched its title (English version, anyway) as much as Sho Miyake's "Small, Slow but Steady". The Japanese like an understated boxing drama, and this is certainly that, matching its lead in its sheer unremarkable nature, but therein lies its charm.Keiko (Yukino Kishii) is a boxer born deaf - a hinderance in the game, as The Chairman of her gym (Tomokazu Miura) highlights. He also laments her lack of distinctive style and poor reach. But she's honest and tries her best. Keiko, who works as a hotel cleaner to supplement her fledgeling boxing career, doesn't stand out, and her lack of speech furthers this. Unaware as to what is going on around her, she simply keeps her head down and carries on. An honest person whom life dealt a bad hand.But this niceness is part of a larger problem. While her gym has fame, it is now old, on the outskirts of the city and COVID has hit it hard. Boxers are leaving the gym to fight elsewhere, with the otherwise ordinary Keiko their only draw. But the ever-diligent fighter becomes unsure of herself when her hearing impairment and lack of underhand tactics get the better of her.Humble is a word to describe this film, from Keiko's boxing style and demeanour, earnest approach to her work and training, but also the location in Tokyo. More industrial, downtrodden neighbourhoods form the backdrop for the dilapidated gym and surrounding areas where Keiko does much of her training. The gym itself is on its last legs, as boxers flood out and no one lined up to take over from the ageing Chairman.This is exemplified by Keiko's search for a new gym taking her to a more central, modern and clean gym. The gym owner's (Makiko Watanabe) bold personality seems at odds with Keiko's; giving the excuse that the gym is 'too far.' This disappoints her coaches, but they know it to be Keiko's way. She is happy where she is.But this will soon change as the gym approaches closing. Her last fight saw her lack of 'dark arts' end in defeat. Unable to hear the bell, she becomes confused, and her opponent uses some of boxing's oldest tricks to steal a victory. She feels cheated, and a world of unsporting behaviour to progress is not a direction she wants to take. Seeing the fighter away from the ring, humbly thanking her for the fight, however, perhaps gives her a different perspective.This matches Miyake's most notable previous work "And You Bird Can Sing" (2018), with dim lighting, slow-pacing and characters struggling to find their own little place in the world. It also features a small-scale world, where characters live within their own limits. The industrial shots of Tokyo's suburban areas are the film's star, a point Miyake hammers home as they adorn the end credits and feel a naturally perfect way to end proceedings.Kishii is the centre of this world, and holds things together well in the roll of keeping calm and carrying on; naturally charming those around her. But like Keiko, the humble nature means this isn't quite a knock-out, yet a pleasing, gentle tale. It doesn't try to be anything else, however, like its lead.COVID will inevitably dominate much cinema set in the present, and this shows a small-scale impact of a gym forced to close and fights in empty venues. Like much of Japanese boxing cinema, the gym is the central location with some satisfying sparring scenes; and bouts in the ring kept to a minimum, yet realistic in their portrayal, never glamourising the sport.A small world. A slow pacing. A steady piece of work. Points victory.Politic1983.home.blog.

Small, Slow But Steady

2022 [JAPANESE]

Drama / Sport

Small, Slow But Steady

2022 [JAPANESE]

Drama / Sport

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Small, Slow But Steady

Exactly that

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