A24
MOVIE REVIEW
The Smashing Machine (2025)
On the heels of their breakout, “Uncut Gems,” the Safdie brothers are headed for a breakup. Both have solo stuff coming out this awards season via A24. First up is Venice International Film Festival competition title “The Smashing Machine,” written and directed by Benny Safdie, the younger sibling who has been in the public eye a lot more thanks to his side job acting in films like “Licorice Pizza” and “Oppenheimer.”
The new film is a biopic on early mixed martial arts star Mark Kerr, who was also the subject of John Hyams’s 2002 HBO documentary, “The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr.” Aside from the shared title, there’s quite a bit of overlap in terms of narrative.