Punch Bag
2026 · 2m
Directed by Louis Vignes
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, sports
Tones: contemplative, tender, tense
Carlotta grows up under a mother who insists beauty opens every door; outwardly reserved, she throws herself into MMA, where, despite sexist stares, her raw talent draws coach Albert's attention and the two train toward her first pro fight.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A tender MMA coming-of-age buried under exactly the kind of predictable sports-redemption scaffolding that makes most scouts sleepy—which means I'm watching to see if Vignes finds a way to sabotage his own premise, and I suspect he does.
Vignes locates this film in the lineage of sensitive sports portraiture (thinking early Chloé Zhao, Lynne Ramsay's precision with bodies), using the MMA ring as a formal space where interior transformation becomes visible; the tonal restraint is admirable.
The choice to keep Carlotta almost silent through most of it—letting her shoulders, her breathing, the way she absorbs feedback in the ring do the emotional work—transforms what could be a generic sports arc into something genuinely felt, especially in those moments with Albert where nothing is said.