David MAMET would prefer to avoid conflict, but he isn't above choking another man into unconsciousness. He knows where the body's pressure points are and how to use them. And although the Chicago transplant never sets out to "win" a fight, his aim, should he be drawn into one, is simple: Don't lose.
Turns out Mamet's got a purple belt in jiu-jitsu. Who knew?
Quite a bit of dojo wisdom came up in conversation one sunny morning outside Street Sports Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the Santa Monica academy where the Pulitzer Prize winner has studied martial arts for the last seven years. Lately, the way of the warrior has been front of mind for Mamet on both professional and personal levels.
The writer-director's cerebral martial-arts potboiler, "Redbelt," reached theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday and will open wide across the country this coming Friday. The film follows a jiu-jitsu academy owner (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who obeys a strict samurai code of honor; the prize fight circuit is anathema to his sense of integrity -- never mind the current cultural tipping point at which mixed martial arts has become the fastest growing sport in the country.
However, when he gets sucked into a typically Mametian vortex of corruption, exploitation and deceit (Hollywood hard chargers and unscrupulous fight promoters are mostly to blame), the character must either suit up for a high-stakes cage fight at an Ultimate Fighting Championship-style event or fall short of his high moral ideals and face bankruptcy.
"The movie is my love letter to the world and philosophy of jiu-jitsu," Mamet said.
Tough-talking guys in emotionally fraught situations have long been subject matter A for the prolific pen-pusher behind such plays as "Speed-the-Plow" and "Glengarry Glen Ross" and screenplays including "The Verdict" and "Wag the Dog." But, until now, the art house hero has steered clear of fight films, racking up nine movie credits as a writer-director ("The Spanish Prisoner" and "State and Main" among them) in addition to his sideline as an author, essayist and contributing cartoonist to the Huffington Post.
Judging from pre-release excitement about "Redbelt" in mixed martial arts circles, Mamet's aesthete pedigree is doing him no disservice. And to hear it from several high-level jiu-jitsu practitioners, the 60-year-old indie auteur does more than simply understand the action sports metier. He can give as good as he gets when it comes to grappling, chokeholds and submission techniques.
