Salvable review – Shia LaBeouf unexpectedly on hand for gritty British boxing drama with melancholy feel
Toby Kebbell is excellent as an ageing fighter (and care-home worker) getting sucked into crime, with a vivid LaBeouf as his childhood friend
Blue-collar chancer gets drawn into criminal underworld; it must be one of the most well-worn plots in cinema, and if debut directors Bjorn Franklin and Johnny Marchetta don’t exactly make it fresh in this character study, then they undeniably lend it a heartfelt vividness. That’s thanks in no small part to lead actor Toby Kebbell, who as ageing boxer and care-home worker Sal holds our attention with a loquacious naivety, despite having been around the block many times. Yakking his way in and out of various marital, family and felonious situations, Sal is a man fundamentally in negotiation with himself.
Living in a trailer, Sal is first and foremost trying to salvage his relationship with his 14-year-old daughter Molly (Kíla Lord Cassidy), irritating his ex-wife Elaine (Elaine Cassidy) in the process. Despite his thickening waist, he’s still a force in the boxing ring; checking on his form one day is his childhood buddy and local gang leader Vince (Shia LaBeouf, with thick Irish brogue and a bleached top that causes one character to complain: “It’s hard to hear myself think over that fucking hairstyle.”) Vince asks Sal to referee the bare-knuckle boxing bouts he’s got going, but his Irish Traveller clientele won’t accept this local legend remaining a bystander.
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