Boxing Gym

BOXING GYM is documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s portrait of a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, dwelling on the discipline of training as people from all walks of life aspire to reach their personal best.

Austin, Texas. Lord’s Gym was founded sixteen years ago by Richard Lord, a former professional boxer. A wide variety of people of all ages, races, ethnicities and social classes train at the gym: men, women, children, doctors, lawyers, judges, business men and women, immigrants, professional boxers and people who want to become professional boxers alongside amateurs who love the sport, in addition to teenagers who are trying to develop strength and assertiveness. The gym is a classic example of the American “melting pot,” where people meet, talk, and train.

“Frederick Wiseman's terrific documentary BOXING GYM [is] a look at a boxing institution from another great institution (that would be the filmmaker)." (Manohla Dargis, New York Times)

“One of [Wiseman’s] most meditative films.” (Dennis Lim, New York Times)

“[Boxing Gym] proves plenty beefy in visual content...it goes the distance.” (Rob Nelson, Variety)

“We are so used to boxing movies that heighten the violence that “Boxing Gym” comes across as a restorative. It’s a boxing movie minus all the bull that usually goes with it.” (Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor)

“[Wiseman’s] most hypnotic, rhythmically assembled observation of corporeal expression.” (Wesley Morris, Boston Globe)

“Is there any subject, location or organization that Frederick Wiseman (Meat, Hospital) can’t make interesting? Give the 80-year-old documentarian something like an Austin boxing gym run by a crusty ex-pugilist, and he’ll find the social Petri dish lurking beneath the surface in no time.” (David Fear, TimeOut New York)