As we head into fall, and films striving to win awards drop into theaters like brown leaves, there are fewer and fewer movies that evoke good feelings.
The film bucking this trend is “Unstoppable,” an inspiring true story starring an extremely talented young actor named Jharrel Jerome, which premiered Friday night at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The 26-year-old stars in the film as Anthony Robles, an NCAA champion wrestler who was born with one leg but still rose to the top of his sport. Co-star Jennifer Lopez As Anthony’s hard-working mother Judy, she’s a veritable tear-jerker factory.
You then learn that, after winning the national high school championship in Philadelphia at the beginning of the film, teenage Anthony quietly storms out of a banquet held in his honor.
“Somebody should tell him he won,” says one college recruiter.
The meek boy who always refused to wear a prosthetic leg now walks alone to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and gazes at the monument to his imaginary idol, Rocky Balboa.
“Unstoppable” aspires to be such an underdog story — one in which the struggles of the hero's home life are no different from the peaks and valleys of the competition. In which Adrian matters as much as Creed.
Well, according to Anthony, these moves were like a mountain climber from Arizona, where he was studying at ASU as a walk-on, and there was no guarantee of a spot on the team.
Determined, he climbed the steep rocks on crutches with his fellow wrestlers. When he reached the top, it was one of many moments of triumph that drew applause on Friday.
As a physical beast, what Robles had to overcome most was the doubts of those around him.
His coach, played by Don Cheadle, is initially skeptical of Anthony, but agrees when he sees his dedication and potential.
Judy, however, is firm in her beliefs, played by Lopez in one of her best performances in a minute. Her character as a struggling mother of several children is just as interesting as Anthony's and gets her due credit.
Lopez is lucky to have generous scene partners like Jerome and Bobby Cannavale as her abusive husband Rick.
“Unstoppable” marks the directorial debut of William Goldenberg, who also edited the Michael Jordan film. The sneaker sensation “Air.” He has a knack for making the clichés and sentimentalities of a sports biopic not so clichéd and sentimental. When it was over I didn't feel like I needed a bath.
And Goldenberg makes wrestling — which doesn’t have the cinematic punches of boxing — worth watching.
Importantly, though, the director extracts a stellar performance from Jerome, which saves “Unstoppable” from falling into the trap of so many athletic stories.
The confident Jerome never yells or shows off. His passionate gaze is not that of a trained Hollywood actor, but of a very real student who is worried about his family even as he grows up too fast.
There are big things to come for Jerome.
What a joy it is to see a young talent climbing the mountain.
