Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams
Three stars
The rapid fall from grace of light heavyweight champ Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Antoine Fuqua's boxing drama Southpaw is breathtaking.
Just weeks after the rich, happy, successful fighter has defended his champion’s belt and unblemished record, a fatal altercation strips him of his family, his fortune and career.
This being a boxing film, redemption is as much a certainty as the obligatory training montage. But Fuqua, an avid boxer, has pushed the pugilist parable even further.
As a tale of transformation, Southpaw functions in two ways – there's the story of Hope struggling to rebuild his life. And then there's the tale of the actor playing him – and the latter packs the bigger punch.
Gyllenhaal is one of the most exciting leading men in Hollywood. His maturation as an intense, all-in shape-shifter has become especially clear of late in films such as Nightcrawler and Prisoners. Southpaw has him romping in a new weight class.
Much has already been written of Gyllenhaal's bulking up for Southpaw and it is indeed impressive. But beyond the startling sight of the actor we once knew as Donnie Darko covered in muscles and tattoos, Gyllenhaal's performance is most dynamic in the tender, mumbled moments with his wife (Rachel McAdams) or daughter (Oona Laurence). Outside of the ring, his Billy Hope sounds like a guy who's been knocked around.
Fuqua (Training Day, The Equalizer) prefers a visceral directness – he has made a comeback movie about a boxer called Hope, after all – and for the fight scenes he favours a more straightforward, accurate view of the action in the ring than, say, the impressionistic poetry of Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull.
Realism, though, is soon swapped for melodrama thicker than a heavy punchbag. As Hope and his wife exit a gala fundraiser, a boxing rival taunts him. Unable to resist, Hope reacts, a melee ensues and tragedy results.
In the aftermath, Hope spirals downwards, loses his family and the money dries up. Once rock bottom is reached, he sets about righting himself in that fountain of redemption: the rundown boxing gym.
He turns to unglamorous trainer Tick Willis (the reliably excellent Forest Whitaker), who spouts all the wisdom of boxing and life that a corner man should.
If the footwork of Southpaw, written by Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy), is never quite as light as a feather, its heart is seldom in doubt. The solid acting, led by Gyllenhaal and Whitaker, livens up the clichés, and Fuqua's deep affection for the sport gives the movie a brisk, entertaining earnestness.
This is a parable that believes strongest in boxing itself.
artslife@thenational.ae
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Profile Idealz
Company: Idealz
Founded: January 2018
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Size: (employees): 22
Investors: Co-founders and Venture Partners (9 per cent)
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
'Lost in Space'
Creators: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Irwin Allen
Stars: Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, Maxwell Jenkins
Rating: 4/5
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
