Review: Small, Slow But Steady – “Does everything well”

Small, Slow But Steady is not only the perfect way to describe our lead Keiko but also a solid description of the film itself. A small-scale feature that despite not pushing any boundaries, does everything well.

As a boxing fan, I have often watched Japanese fighters who carry morals of respect and duty. Yet how come the general public as a whole, have never heard of them? Naoya Inoue is one of the best active boxers in the world yet does not have the social standing of other names in his field. This could be due to time differences, differing cultures etc. However, I believe this is because the respectfulness that these athletes have for their craft, outweighs any desire to ‘sell their fights’ with false narratives, which (for better or worse) concludes with less viewers and coverage of these talents.

These themes are echoed here in the new feature from Sho Miyake, never straying too far from realism and keeping the story grounded. In comparison to the ‘big-budget’ boxing film of the year in ‘Creed 3’, this film may be less accessible to the general viewer with less action and smaller stakes. As the title suggests, sometimes the film can seem slow with its limited dialogue due to the deaf protagonist, yet these moments of silent training and reflection show the dedication of Keiko to overcome the heavy adversity that she is under to succeed as a professional boxer.

The strength of this film is its consistency, landing almost every emotional punch with precision. Tomokazu Miura quietly delivers an exceptional performance showing years of acting experience to subtly display a world of emotion.

Small, Slow But Steadyy will be a knockout to any boxing fan that gives its 90 minutes runtime a fair fight.

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