SNAPSHOT
The black and white feature is based on the true story of the Finnish boxer Olli Mäki and his highly hyped 1962 championship match against the American featherweight champion Davey Moore. The film follows Olli as he unexpectedly falls in love and becomes more committed to pursuing a budding romance than training for his greatest fight. (synopsis (c) Indiewire)
Love triumphs all.
It’s a laudable sentiment and one that everyone from pimply-faced teenagers to greeting card companies embrace with gusto.
But if you’re the manager of promising real life boxer Olli Mäki and you’re prepping him for a big fight against Davey Moore that could be the making of his career, you’re probably going to be less enamoured of the idea that love sweeps all before it.
After all, falling in love does crazy things to do a person – you become fixated, understandably with the object of your desire, and suddenly all those mundane day-to-day things start to look decidedly beige and uninteresting.
Which is a BIG problem when you’re supposed to be focusing on one thing and one thing only – winning a big bout.
Still what will last longer? And what is ultimately the thing most worth pursuing?
No doubt sports enthusiasts would debate that long and hard, as would true die hard romantics, from opposing camps; it will be fascinating to see just where this engaging looking film lands.
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki opens in Finland 2 September 2016.