Redbelt 88 Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alica Braga, Emily Mortimer, Tim Allen, Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay, Rodrigo Santoro, Jennifer Grey Director: David Mamet Rating: R for language Running time: 99 minutes Odd and kind of wonderful, David Mamet’s Redbelt, which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, is, on first impression, a mash-up of Mamet’s familiar stylized stories of victims and con men with a conventional sports underdog movie set in the relatively novel world of mixed martial arts fighting, of which Mamet is apparently an aficionado. (He’s also a purple belt in Brazilian jujitsu. Who knew ?)
It’s only later, upon dangerous reflection, that a film critic might begin to connect Redbelt with names like Kurosawa and Jean-Pierre Melville — specifically the French director’s movies Le Samourai (1967 ) and Le Cercle rouge (1970 ). Mamet’s victim / hero Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor ) is highly reminiscent of the anti-heros portrayed by Alain Delon in those films.
Mike, who has a vague military past, runs a jujitsu studio in Los Angeles that’s barely getting by. His Brazilian wife, Sondra (Alice Braga ), serves as his bookkeeper while maintaining her own (profitable ) business on the side. Mike isn’t in the business for the money, he’s a semi-mystic preoccupied with the dharma and honor code of the discipline. He says he doesn’t teach his students to fight but to prevail, and to that end he has devised a method of training that involves imposing a handicap randomly set by ritual.
One night, disoriented and agitated lawyer Laura Black (Emily Mortimer ) wanders into Mike’s dojo (class ) and ends up accidentally shooting out a plate glass window. To save face for everyone — including the student whose gun Laura fired — Mike agrees to cover up the incident.
Later, at his brother-in-law’s nightclub, Mike saves the life of movie star Chet Frank (Tim Allen, in a surprisingly subdued and enjoyable mode ). To thank him, Chet helps Mike secure a job as a technical adviser on his film. This being Mamet, you know that the man of honor is about to be compromised.
He is, and in a twist that’s reminiscent of Mamet’s 1997 masterpiece The Spanish Prisoner, Mike is left with no recourse but to contravene his principles and accept a spot on the undercard of a major mixed martial arts fight.
As an exploration of male vanity and honor Redbelt is intriguing, but most of its audience is likely to be drawn from action fans who anticipate the fight scenes, choreographed by Mamet’s jujitsu instructor Renato Magno. While Mamet will never be considered a visual artist, there’s an economy to his style that extends to the fight scenes. They’re convincingly authentic and brutal, which isn’t surprising given that Mamet employs a lot of MMA fighters and eschews — sorry Jackie Chan and Jet Li fans — any Hong Kong-style acrobats or effects.
While the level of acting is generally quite high (though, as usual in a Mamet film, the performances don’t always seem in the same key ) Ejiofor dominates the film with his enigmatic yet accessible presence and physical adeptness. He holds his own with the MMA professionals, but it’s outside the ring that he excels. You can sense the charisma — and the self-regard — in Mike, and understand that he’s at least a little bit of a con man himself.
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