Punch
Jim is a seventeen-year-old boxer in a small town. He's a golden boy, preparing for a fight that will elevate him to an early professional status. All bets are on his climb to success. But his father Stan is a demanding coach and a notorious alcoholic.
Storyline
Jim is a seventeen-year-old boxer in a small town. He's a golden boy, preparing for a fight that will elevate him to an early professional status. All bets are on his climb to success. But his father Stan is a demanding coach and a notorious alcoholic.
As Jim begins to rethink why he is fighting, his life tangles with Whetu, a razor-tongued, gay Maori boy who spends his days in an old shack with his dog Moimoi where he cobbles together a fragile glamour and dreams of leaving town to become a musician. Away from the rainbow flags and Pride parades, Jim and Whetu must navigate isolation, hypocrisy, the brutality of small-town boxing, and an anonymous queer bashing that no one will talk about. As Jim stumbles towards discovering what it really is to be a gay man, he is forced to understand that strength has little to do with heroism.
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