Canadian director Nicole Dorsey and screenwriter Imran Zaidi put a sci-fi spin on the world of fencing in Balestra.DAVID ASTORGA/Elevation Pictures
Balestra
Directed by Nicole Dorsey
Written by Imran Zaidi
Starring Cush Jumbo, James Badge Dale and Manny Jacinto
Classification N/A; 145 minutes
Opens in select theatres Aug. 9
Critic’s Pick
Balestra, a paranoiac thriller set in the world of competitive fencing, combines the raw athletic power of Raging Bull with the operatic tragedy of Black Swan, accented by the sci-fi of Under the Skin.
Another way into the film, though, might be through the recent Olympic success of Canadian fencer Eleanor Harvey. Her journey to the podium required a lot: practice, of course, a good coach and the collective psychological and physical toll of becoming a champion. There’s even an economic factor: Harvey’s mother had to sell her house to pay for her daughter’s fencing ambitions.
The inherent drama and tensions of top-tier athletics are what drive Balestra, though Canadian director Nicole Dorsey (Black Conflux) and screenwriter Imran Zaidi put a sci-fi spin on the world. The intricacies of the sport are all here – we see every micro-movement of the épée and the competitor’s stances, all the steps of the workouts and training sessions – but shadowed by a stranger-than-life air. (“Balestra” is a fencing term for a jump followed by a lunge; it can either give the fencer an advantage or push them toward disequilibrium.)
The film starts by introducing the late-career, 34-year-old American athlete Joanna (British actress Cush Jumbo), who has been in recovery for a few years after a mysterious incident forced her to leave the sport. Her husband and coach Raph (James Badge Dale) is training her in preparation for a comeback, but before her return, she is brought to a fencing school, where she loses horribly to the young Audie (Christin Park), one of her husband’s former students.
Too many movies on your to-watch list? Here are the best films of 2023
Depressed, Joanna has her psychiatrist connect her with an electromagnetic therapist who is experimenting with a new technology called Halo, which allows Joanna to train in her sleep, accomplishing days’ worth of work in mere minutes.
Dipping into her dream state, Joanna meets her new coach, Elliot (Manny Jacinto), a shadowy figure created by her unconscious. And it is in this alternate reality that she begins to both strengthen her body and weaken her mind as she plots her triumphant return at the Paris Olympics. (Although the movie was shot in 2022, its release this week is remarkable timing.)
Since 2019′s Black Conflux, Dorsey’s filmmaking style has become more similar to the impressionist approach of her fellow Canadian the late Jean-Marc Vallée. There is a slower pace to the film’s domestic scenes between Joanna and Raph, where the focus is on tender moments of care or crushing disappointment, à la Vallée’s Demolition. Meanwhile, the editing blurs our understanding of space and time, reminiscent of Vallée’s work on Wild.
British actor Cush Jumbo stars as 34-year-old American athlete Joanna, who has been in recovery for a few years after a mysterious incident forced her to leave fencing.DAVID ASTORGA/Elevation Pictures
Yet Dorsey is also building her own cinematic language here, with visual details accentuated by repetition, taking on more meaning as the film goes on. For example, a recurring scene of Joanna’s hand running through the sand at first seems peaceful before slowly revealing itself to be more nefarious.
Returning to the Vallée comparison, though, Dorsey is at her best when working with her cast. Jumbo, best known to audiences for her work on television’s The Good Fight, is perfect: understated, emotive, fierce, terrified. One particular close-up of the actress, after a celebratory match, subtly captures the joy of the victory and the dread of what it cost Joanna to get there. Jacinto’s work is equally impressive: He is miles more commanding, charming and, eventually, frightening than his work on the NBC sitcom The Good Place might have led audiences to expect.
Dorsey is proving to be more adept at marshalling the opportunities of commercial filmmaking than her contemporaries. While bigger does not always mean better, she demonstrates a real mastery of the tools and resources at her disposal. There’s nothing wrong with going for gold.
Special to The Globe and Mail