#TIFF25: “CHRISTY” REVIEW

By David Baldwin

Christy Salters (Sydney Sweeney) went from being a college basketball player in the late 1980s to being one of the pioneers of women’s boxing, going by the nickname “The Coal Miner’s Daughter”. Behind closed doors however, Christy was enduring abuse and degradation at the hands of her 25-years-older husband and boxing coach Jim Martin (Ben Foster).

For much of its running time, CHRISTY is your standard sports Biopic. It is based on a true story, and it hits all of the triumphant, disappointing and inspiring beats you expect. Co-Writer/Director David Michôd does not stray too far from the formula and does a more than admirable job telling Christy’s story. When the film is not focusing on boxing, it pivots into being the story of a woman who does not fit in and is made to suffer for it. While I wish Michôd and his Co-Writer Mirrah Foulkes went a little past the surface level with many softened elements, they wisely maintain restraint when it comes to the scenes of abuse (although one scene is just as shockingly brutal as it needs to be).

Though the supporting cast is uniformly solid – with Foster delivering another impeccable performance as a really shitty and deeply disturbed individual, Merritt Wever nailing some truly devastating scenes, Katy O’Brian stealing scenes left and right, and Chad L. Coleman positively slaying as Don King – the film belongs to Sweeney. She gives an absolute knockout performance as Christy, landing each right hook harder than the last both figuratively and literally. Her alternatively physical and vulnerable work here is some of the strongest of her career and should easily silence all of her haters.

CHRISTY screens at TIFF ‘25:

Fri. Sept 5 at 2:00 PM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre

Sat. Sept 6 at 11:00 AM at VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre