On paper, The Smashing Machine sounds like an Oscar lock: a transformational performance by a much-loved star, in a real-life redemption story set in the dog-eat-dog world of blue-collar sport (in this case, mixed martial arts). Benny Safdie ’s film has all the right elements, but it plays them all in a very zen and really rather abstract way, much like the ambient free-jazz score by Nala Sinephro, which leads the way ahead of perhaps the most eclectic needle-drops of the year, bringing together Bruce Springsteen, Timi Yuri, Little Suzy and The Alan Parsons Project. The result is a film that always seems to be a step or two ahead, which can be disorientating to say the least.

Dwayne Johnson owns the whole thing with his truly remarkable work as fighter Mark Kerr, disappearing so fu

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