‘First Match’ Starts Strong But Is Pinned Down By Overly Safe Plot [SXSW Review]

As the SXSW Film Festival wraps up, countless producers will be waiting with bated breath to see whether or not their tiny indies will make it out of the festival circuit void. Such is not the case for the team behind “First Match.” Netflix picked up the indie film before the festival and will roll it out March 30 on its streaming service. With the apparent confidence from Netflix, “First Match” is one of the most anticipated tiny indies coming out of SXSW.

“First Match” is the first feature from Olivia Newman and follows a troubled black Brooklynite named Monique (Elvire Emanuelle) as she’s pulled between her manipulative father and her high school wrestling team. The film opens as a shower of Monique’s clothes cascades from her mother’s open apartment window. The two women are locked in a screaming match, as Monique’s mother kicks her out for sleeping with her boyfriend. Monique is bounced to yet another foster home, this time with a demure, Spanish-speaking woman named Lucila (Kim Ramirez).

Monique immediately begins breaking Lucila’s rules, staying out late to hang out with long-time friend Omari (Jharrel Jerome, of “Moonlight” fame). Determined to win over her neglectful, fresh-out-of-prison father Darrel (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Monique joins her high school’s wrestling team. Darrel, whose glory days took place on the high school wrestling mat, takes some interest and starts to coach Monique, despite initial assertions that girls can’t be on boys’ wrestling teams and no boys will want to wrestle a girl.

Though the naturally talented Monique starts to find her place on the once-prickly team of boys, especially taking interest in Malik (Jared Kemp), Darrel is her utmost priority. Monique’s father wants to buy a car wash down in Greensboro, North Carolina, and, though at first determined to earn his money honestly, falls back into selling drugs. When Monique starts to show real talent in her wrestling matches, Darrel takes her to an underground female fighting ring in hopes that he can guilt her into joining. Torn between her new, wholesome life and this illegal money-maker, Monique must decide if keeping her father out of prison is worth her newfound principles.

Though “First Match” breaks a lot of new ground behind the scenes with its predominantly female crew (including writer-director Newman, cinematographer Ashley Conner, producers Chanelle Elaine and Veronica Nickel, production designer Maki Taniguchi, and editor Tamara Meem), it lacks narrative pizzazz. We’ve seen the “rough-kids-find-redemption-in-team-sports” story many times over, and although this film is missing the white gaze and male protagonists of ilk like “The Blind Side,” “Radio,” or “Remember the Titans,” “First Match” does little else to set itself apart. It hardly even seems to matter that Monique is female, since the film drops sexism as an issue after the first 30 minutes. Monique is one of the boys, and, though she eventually shows tenderness toward another woman via her foster mom, she never connects with another girl her age. The film is necessarily situated in black culture — Monique’s nails, hair, and jewelry play important parts in her transformation, and dialogue neither seems downplayed nor forced — but it’s not achieving anything particularly novel. Anna Rose Holmer’s “The Fits” and Dee Rees’ “Pariah” offer fresher takes on young women navigating black culture.

Maybe “First Match” can’t quite pin you down because its narrative stakes don’t feel high enough (it’s hard to understand why Monique likes her father so much, or what she’s really getting out of being on the team), or maybe it’s because the performances leave something to be desired. Elvire Emanuelle knocks it out of the park as Monique, but she does nearly all of the dramatic heavy lifting. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II feels one-note as the unreliable Darrel, while Jharell Jerome as Omari struggles against the shadow of his standout turn in “Moonlight.” Jared Kemp, though achieving great chemistry with Emanuelle, is notably wooden as Malik.

Stylistically, “First Match” is almost even-keel to a fault. Visuals, editing, and music all feel by-the-book. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, unless the film in question has a by-the-book narrative to match. “First Match” doesn’t necessarily get anything wrong, it just doesn’t go far enough, in terms of story or mise-en-scene, to earn the pathos its premise deserves.

“First Match” is a culturally significant, capably-crafted film, but it leans on safe familiarities when it should seek risky rewards. Newman, Emanuelle and their female colleagues are all excellent at their jobs, but their resulting product is just too measured to feel satisfying. Like Monique’s own first match, “First Match” marks a promising, if tenuous beginning. Hopefully, a second romp in the ring for these filmmakers won’t pull so many punches. [C+]

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