Writer/director
Ben Younger's film Bleed for This tells the story of boxer Vinny Pazienza, who suffered a broken neck after a near-fatal car crash in 1991 and managed to get back in the ring just over a year later with the help of trainer Kevin Rooney. Though this kind of film can be filled with clichés, Bleed for This' music largely avoids them. The soundtrack sets the story's era and milieu with macho tracks that span from the deft sparring of
Audio Two's "Top Billin'" to the over the top strutting of
Billy Squier's "Emotions in Motion," then builds a contemplative mood with songs by
Willis Earl Beal and
Julia Holter's score. The strength radiating from "Too Dry to Cry," "Disintegrating," and "Burning Bridges" makes
Beal an inspired choice for a film about determination, and while it may be hard to imagine
Holter's ethereal music providing the backdrop for such a visceral story, her delicate pieces do the soundtrack's heavy lifting.
Holter's albums already showed how skilled she is at abstract storytelling, and
Loud City Song's "Maxim's I" sounds just as luminous and majestic here. She translates this expansive intimacy into eloquent miniatures that are spacious yet full of distilled emotion, though the emotions might be unexpected. "Fighting Dele" is free from percussion or any other signifiers of combat; instead, it expresses the joy of being in one's element with glowing strings and drones. Even on more predictable cues,
Holter's restraint and creativity are apparent as she builds tension on "Fighting Duran" and ensures poignant moments such as "Not Gonna Fight Again" never become maudlin. Thanks to
Beal and
Holter, there's a transporting, meditative quality to
Bleed for This that not only enhances its tale of a remarkable comeback, but also makes it a surprisingly ambitious collection in its own right.