It’s roughly halfway through “Campeón Gabacho” that someone finally asks Liborio (Juan Daniel García Treviño) his name, an oversight that can feel like an indictment of the audience as well for perhaps not having the curiosity to take note. The immigrant from Mexican runs through a whole host of nicknames and slurs he’s been called after Aireen (Leslie Grace) finds him in a tunnel near a park where he’s found shelter and dozens are paraded in front of the camera, seemingly acknowledging Liborio but without giving him the benefit of a presence when they won’t call him by his name, but one of their choosing. The painful reality delivered with plenty of panache in a feverish montage that is indicative of the type of swagger Jonas Cuaron brings to his adaptation of Aura Xilonen’s novel of the same name where to slow down even for a second could prove to be fatal for either Liborio in the circumstances he inhabits or the drama the character carries on his shoulders that eludes ever feeling treacly.
When Xilonen wrote the story of a young man who finds that his life is a constant fight before putting on boxing gloves to make a living at just 19, the film version seems intent on preserving its youthful energy in both its relentless momentum and a certain sense of naïveté, imagining a version of New York City that will be as foreign to native Manhattanites as it is to Liborio, who’s found steady work at a local bookstore run by a persnickety Southerner (Eddie Marsan), a migrant in his own right. The street in front may have the occasional car pass through, but it really ends up serving as a stage where Liborio has to prove himself on the daily, appeasing his hard-to-please boss and contending with the ruffians that hang out around the block. He isn’t paid much, but as he’s apt to explain directly to camera, the books have kept him company at night when he’s allowed to sleep in the loft above and he’s been building a different kind of bank account in his mind. However, a confrontation that occurs when some of the men outside harass Aireen leads him to throw some punches and while they can’t defend themselves in the moment against his powerful right hook, they burn the building down, leading him to start all over again.
Cuaron, who last saw drama at the border in his 2015 thriller “Desierto” that found there was no negotiating with an American who took immigration enforcement into his own hands, takes a softer approach to similar ideas when the world isn’t about to be get any kinder towards Liborio, but he unwittingly has developed a talent for boxing when he’s had to jab and defend himself anyway in get through life and a local promoter offers $300 a week to be a sparring partner for a prize fighter at his gym. Turns out that Liborio is a better prospect than the boxer he’s supposed to help prepare, but his path to the ring is a complicated one when the promoter is none too pleased that the one he developed himself is discovered to be a dud and Liborio ends up being taken in by the proprietor (Ruben Blades) of a children’s shelter after Aireen locates him on the streets. If anyone was going to defy the odds, however, no one is more ideal for the part than Treviño, the rising Mexican star who carried himself so confidently in Teodora Mihai’s “La Civil” and Amat Escalante’s “Lost in the Night” that it’s hard to take your eyes off of him.
Having such a strong lead in every respect gives “Campeón Gabacho” the foundation it needs to be the stranger affair that Xilonen and Cuaron want to pursue, bringing in surreal flourishes to reflect the feeling that being so far from home Liborio never can feel as if his feet touch the ground. Some work better than others. It might not immediately hit that the film is set in New York or even America when it’s such an idealized version it lacks distinguishing details (though like his father Alfonso, a producer on the film, Cuaron uses a color grade skewing towards an overarching layer of grey that makes some colors really pop when much is muted, insisting on reality even as increasingly abnormal things start to happen). The film also never quite knows what to do with Rosario Dawson after giving her an extravagant makeover, donning a new colorful wig each time she shows up to build up Liborio’s social media standing as an influencer, but weirdly isn’t a particularly interesting character. Then again, she has significant competition from the quite welcome presence of Blades and Cheech Marin, who may be bed bound as Aireen’s grandfather yet gives the film plenty of juice every time he’s on screen.
“Campeón Gabacho” reaches the same conclusion that most films involving boxers do, but is rousing for different reasons when in fact reaching the ring for a climactic fight feels like Liborio is hardly doing it for himself, but rather a host of others who struggle without any obvious reward continuing to plug away. When it may require looking at the world in a different way to understand how unsettling displacement is, the film’s use of the sweet science to knock some sense out of a situation that can make none yields a crowdpleaser when so many can see themselves in Liborio’s desire to stay in the fight and an out-of-body experience becomes one that can be felt in the bones.
“Campeón Gabacho” does not yet have U.S. distribution.