Men who swear by Mamet
By Behind The Scenes TV on May 5, 2008 in Directors, New Releases, Writers
It’s not so surprising, really.
Celebrated hyphenate David Mamet - playwright, screenwriter, movie director, TV show creator, sometime actor, academic, author, essayist, etc. - had a fight film in him. Naturally it’s a poetic-sounding one with perfect meter. But there’s plenty of blood, too. No one walks away from Mamet’s arena unscathed.
“Redbelt” focuses on the world of Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters and promoters, but they’re Mamet men just the same: down on their luck, desperate to turn around their circumstances, tough, foul-mouthed, highly moral or completely amoral, unwilling to budge from their principles or willing to do whatever it takes to make a buck. Those are ongoing refrains for Mamet, who has often focused on the vulgar and bruising.
(Boston Globe)
