A professional fighter, or at least a professional fighter with any sense, does one thing in between bouts: They train. They train and train and train. In 1951, Stanley Kubrick made a short documentary called “Day of the Fight,” which virtuosically distilled the process leading to the middleweight boxer Walter Cartier’s victory in a Newark bout.
Jack Huston, an actor here making his debut at a writer-director, takes Kubrick’s picture as inspiration for a dazzling debut feature using the same title. “Day of the Fight” is an unabashed genre picture that manages to be both the kind of movie they supposedly don’t make like they used to, and also something bracingly fresh. It’s anchored by the lead actor, Michael C. Pitt, here ferocious and heart-stabbingly vulnerable in equal proportion.
Huston and Pitt worked together as actors on the series “Boardwalk Empire,” and their affinity here is crystal clear, although Huston never appears onscreen. The director and actor invoke clichés — such as the story of a broken-down fighter looking for a “shot” at redemption — for the purpose of exploding them with raw emotion.
Pitt plays Mike Flannigan, who’s making a comeback after 10 years out of the ring. The comeback corresponds with Flannigan’s efforts to piece together his broken life and family. The movie’s unforgiving New York City is grittily conjured with black-and-white cinematography (by Peter Simonite) into which some color occasionally bleeds. Stalwart support from Steve Buscemi and Joe Pesci enhances the authenticity.
Huston is a legacy filmmaker — his grandfather, the director and actor John Huston, made a pretty distinctive boxing picture himself, “Fat City,” from 1972. “Day of the Fight” honors the elder Huston with unwinking reverence, but a voice that’s wholly its own.
Day of the FightRated R for language, themesbest online slots real money, violence. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters.