Directed by David Michôd (“The King”) and based on the life of trailblazing boxer Christy Martin, “Christy” screened Thursday night at the Austin Film Festival. Martin and her wife, Lisa Holewyne, received a standing ovation before the Q&A. The crowd’s reaction set the stage for a film that is both inspiring and devastating, one that celebrates triumph but refuses to flinch from the violence that nearly ended Martin’s life.
The film stars Sydney Sweeney as Christy Martin, the first woman to sign with famed promoter Don King and one of the most recognizable female boxers of the 1990s. Sweeney delivers one of her best dramatic performances to date, capturing the contradiction of a fighter who could take punches in the ring but lived in fear outside of it. It’s a role that reestablishes Sweeney’s dramatic credibility after years of uneven projects, and she meets the challenge with a mix of physical strength and emotional restraint.
Michôd directs with his signature grit and realism, with the boxing sequences sweaty and claustrophobic, but the film’s most powerful punches come far from the ring. When the story reaches the 2010 attempted murder of Martin by her then-husband and trainer, Jim Martin, Christy transforms from an underdog sports drama into something far more haunting.
The attack, in which Jim repeatedly stabbed and shot Christy in their bedroom, leaving her to die, is staged with shocking intimacy and pacing that feels like time froze in that moment. Michôd doesn’t sensationalize it. Instead, he pulls the camera close, letting the sound design and Sweeney’s performance carry the horror. The scene wipes away every ounce of triumph we’ve seen previously — the championship belts, the pride, the luxury cars — replacing them with something raw and unforgettable. For a film that had been riding a rhythm of triumph, the sudden collapse into violence is gutting but not unforeseen. In retrospect, the tension is hinted at throughout the depiction of their relationship.
That moment reframes everything that came before. What had been a story about a boxer breaking barriers becomes one about survival itself. In the following scenes, Christy’s slow, painful crawl to being helped and her eventual decision to testify against Jim offer some of the film’s most impactful moments. Sweeney plays the role with defiance, showing us a woman who refuses to be defined by what was done to her.
The supporting performances range from uneven to moving, and the pacing occasionally drags. But in its final act, “Christy” finds its soul.
Seeing the real Christy Martin on stage at the Paramount Theatre, smiling and alive, turned the screening into something larger than a premiere; it became a reclamation.
Michôd’s “Christy” isn’t a perfect film, but it’s an honest one. It honors Martin not by mythologizing her, but by showing the brutal cost of survival and the strength it takes to keep fighting long after the lights go out.
4 rounds out of 5
