LAFF 2013: TAPIA

Johnny Tapia in Tapia.

Sparring with life

By John Esther

Like most professional boxing champions, Johnny Tapia came from a very poor neighborhood where kids loved to fight. Although Tapia was a relatively small guy -- as an adult he stood around 5'6" 114 lbs -- he was extremely quick, strong and, more importantly, a naturally smart fighter. He knew how to psyche out his opponents while pumping up a crowd, especially if it was a local crowd. While I am not much of a fan of boxing, Tapia's boxing skills are very entertaining.

Unfortunately, for director Eddie Alcazar, they are about the only entertaining elements in his documentary, Tapia, which made its world premiere last night at the Los Angeles Film Festival to a semi-filled theater. (Reports of a sold out crowd for the screening are an exaggeration.)

Raised by his grandparents after his father was murdered when Tapia was in the womb and his mother brutally raped and murdered when Tapia was 8, Tapia grew up on the toughest streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico. At a very young age it was clear he was a natural fighter. He beat everybody in his weight bracket (sometimes larger guys, too). But just when his career was about to really take off cocaine held him down.

After rehabilitating himself, Tapia got back into the ring, rose through the ranks, eventually earing five world championships before retiring. He won three of them in different weight divisions.

Yet the sadness and anger over his mother's vicious death (other family members would die along the way) coupled with his addiction to cocaine would keep pulling Tapia back down into a whirlpool of despair and near death experiences. He was declared clinically dead five times.

While such trials and tribulations will probably help Alcazar's upcoming feature adaptation of Tapia's life (Shiloh Fernandez will play Tapia), Tapia's religious, determinist attitude in the documentary gets boring after a while. Tapia keeps going on and on about his purpose in life as if there was some great creator fashioning some important grand narrative on earth and Tapia was merely playing his part. Tapia also talks about how he does not want to hurt anyone one moment then makes it clear how violently he would respond if he ever met his mother's killer. And, of course, he is a boxer. Pugilists do not win fights by not hurting another human being.

Simpleminded and tedious after a while, Tapia may have benefited from interviews with others who knew Tapia or perhaps a few psychiatrists. Then there is the issue with his father's supposed murder. That gets raised and dropped way too quickly in the documentary. A thorough examination of his death may have helped, too. Death by heart failure at 45?

There are some big questions here, but Alcazar does not subject audiences to any truths behind the basic bouts of this boxer in and outside the ring.

Tapia screens at the Los Angeles Film Festival: June 19, 7:40 p.m., Regal Cinema. For more information: Tapia at LAFF 2013.