Movie Review

Dual roles for Halle Berry in Bruised do her no favors

Sports movies are often among the most predictable films out there. The formula — a person or a team that few people believe in rises above expectations to achieve success or at least respect — is one that has been repeated ad nauseam. The best sports movies find a way to rise above or mitigate their clichés, making viewers forget they already know what’s going to happen.

That, unfortunately, is not the case with Bruised, in which Halle Berry stars and makes her directorial debut. Berry plays Jackie Justice, a former MMA fighter who’s down on her luck, cleaning houses for a living and doing her best to hide her alcoholism. When her loser of a manager/boyfriend, Desi (Adan Canto), brings her to an underground fight, an impromptu bout leads to Jackie catching the eye of Immaculate (Shamier Anderson), who fronts a local training facility.

There, with the help of trainer Buddhakan (Sheila Atim), Jackie starts getting the urge to fight again. But at almost the same time, she finds herself having to take custody of her son Manny (Danny Boyd, Jr.), whom she left with his father soon after he was born. The triple burden of getting back into fighting shape, reconnecting with her son (who won’t speak for unknown reasons), and avoiding the wrath of Desi threatens to derail her quest before it even begins.

The film, written by Michelle Rosenfarb, holds very few surprises, aside from the addition of the long-lost son. But that’s not its biggest problem. Instead, Berry and Rosenfarb somehow find a way to make the inspirational sports story as unappealing as possible. That’s not because Jackie herself is unlikable; the obstacles she has to overcome are such that it’s difficult not to root for her. But the filmmakers are just missing that certain something to take her from merely being the protagonist to being the story’s hero.

Of course, Jackie is a complicated figure, especially since she all but abandoned her own child. But plenty of other lead characters in sports movies have been equally complex and won over audience’s hearts in spite of their faults. Jackie’s journey is never fleshed out to the degree that she earns the respect of either the viewers or the other characters in the film.

Much of this has to do with Jackie’s confusing background. Berry herself is 54, but it’s unclear if Jackie is supposed to be that age, too. At one point, they say that Jackie has been out of the sport for four years, and with Manny being only 6 years old, it feels like Jackie is supposed to be younger, at least in her early forties. But the lack of clarity only adds to the frustrating nature of the story.

It might have been a bit much for Berry to star in her directorial debut. As the director, she doesn’t seem to know how to rein in the more outlandish impulses she has as an actor, a lack of nuance that hurts her performance. Other actors fare better, especially Atim, who exudes a real calm in her role, and Boyd, who relies almost exclusively on his cuteness in the wordless part.

In Bruised, the filmmakers know exactly what points to hit, but they don’t have a good feel as to how to make them impactful. Berry is a great actress, but this film does her no favors on or off the screen.

---

Bruised is now streaming on Netflix.

Halle Berry in Bruised.

Halle Berry in Bruised

Photo by John Baer/Netflix

Halle Berry in Bruised.

Vinyl Record News

Dallas record store chain Josey Records spins new location in Garland

Josey Records

Josey Records

Vinyl at Josey Records

Dallas music maker Josey Records has extended its reach east: The record store chain, whose empire includes one of the largest single independent record stores in the U.S., has opened a location in Garland, at 1005 Northwest Hwy., at the intersection of Centerville Road, where it's selling its trademark assortment of vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, turntables, music posters, new releases, and music accessories.

This is the sixth location and the third in the Dallas area, joining the original in Farmers Branch which owners Waric Cameron and Luke Sardello opened in November 2014. They've since opened locations in Plano, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Vidalia, Missouri.

The original location is a giant place with 16,000 square feet devoted to vinyl, 45s, CDs, turntables, and T-shirts. They do a good job showcasing new releases and collector vinyl — they made CultureMap's list of 5 best places in Dallas to buy vinyl records — and are known to host album release and listening parties such as a recent blockbuster celebrating Linkin Park.

They made headlines in June 2020 when they acquired the vast musical inventory of Bill’s Records following the death of owner Bill Wisener; Cameron and Sardello both worked at Bill’s, and knew the sprawling collection first-hand.

"It has taken us years to even start going through it, but in last two years, we've made some headway," Cameron says. "Bill's has its own audience, so we created a specific Instagram account, just for Bill's Records merchandise called @billsrecordsvault."

They chose Garland because they saw it as an area that was under-served.

"There are very few record stores in that area of northeast Dallas, Casa View, Garland, Rockwall, Mesquite," Cameron says. "We have customers who live over there, so it seemed like a good place for a store."

The storefront they're in was most recently The Music Store, which sold and rented musical instruments and accessories; but coincidentally, it's next to an address that was once RPM Records, a hip record store from the '90s.

The Garland store follows the same model as their others: selling new and used records and merchandise, and buying used goods, as well.

"One thing that's cool is that each location takes on its own identity," he says. "We buy used CDs, vinyl records, cassettes — we're a used resale business — and what we buy from our customers dictates what that store becomes. For example, our Plano store has a lot of classic rock. So we're looking forward to seeing what Garland gravitates to."

Garland does have one thing that the other locations do not.

"Right now, Garland has this incredible collection of jazz," Cameron says. "We bought a great collection of jazz records — someone called and wanted to sell it. We get that a lot, we buy major collections from all over the U.S., we even make house calls. So we saved it for the Garland store."

Loading...