Dialogue in film is a tetchy thing. For students starting out on the rocky road of film-making, we’re drummed into us that you have to show more than you tell. Stripping back lines allows an actor, a moment, or a visual say more than you’ve ever done before.
Good talking has to be done well; lyrically and with meaning. Exposition is exposed easily, forced poignancy unravels, and many people don’t like a lot of blabber. But a good monologue can move a film with momentum and the gravitas of a stellar performer. Words can convey so much when done with the mastery of a seasoned thespian.
Which is why an hour an a half focused mainly on one actor, talking to a camera within a camera, shouldn’t work in a cinematic context. Yet, marvellously, it does here.
The Pyramid Texts, pulling its name from an ancient practise of carving text into the stones to pass on wisdom, revolves around Ray, an ageing boxer turned trainer who takes to the ring once more to deliver a letter of regret and memory to his estranged son in order to gain some penance.
There have been a lot of movies that revolve around boxing of late: Creed, Bleed for This, and The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki. There are even more coming, such as Johnny Harris’ Jawbone. There’s an inexhaustible supply of men pummelling their fists into one another’s mouths but this film strips that all back, making the writing the main muscle. And boy, does it pack a punch. Writer Geoff Thompson weaves poetry and eloquence through this well conducted lesson in affecting script-writing. As though Mike Leigh and Shakespeare spawned an indie drama, The Pyramid Texts beckons imagery with wretched feeling, comparing his inward fear to the journeys of Jesus and Mohammad Ali in such damning yet exquisite metaphors. Lead actor James Cosmo is gifted with lines peppered with tenderness and beauty mixed with heated masculinity and fatherly repentance.
Brother directors Ludwig and Paul Shammasian punctuate this talkative piece with images, snapping away from Cosmo or focusing on other elements of the ring at the right moments. Whilst the black and white visuals denote somewhat simplistic cinematography, and covers a multitude of sins, the stripping back of colour works well to allow the focus to be on Ray’s oration.
When released at Edinburgh Film Festival in 2015, James Cosmo scooped up the Best Actor prize and it is well deserved. Cosmo is outstanding here as a ragged old boxer reliving his life and exposing his soul as he powerful chews through his life and love. A sonnet to his son, Bomber, Ray is exposed and alone, aching in the emptiness of the ring that fills gradually in moments with joy, pain, anguish, and aching solitude. As the story gradually unfolds, Ray digs under his own skin in confession and exposes his nerves for forgiveness. This is a man baring his bones in his torturous purgatory, hurting for absolution that he cannot even offer himself. It’s an almighty and towering performance.
There isn’t just one component that beckons your full attention for The Pyramid Texts it’s all of them. Script-writing, direction, and acting combine to produce a boxing drama more meat packed within it than the aforementioned dramas combined. It enters the ring, without prestige or flash, holding your heart in its glove, never surrendering to cliches or the overtly familiar. It’s a quaking, triumphant, and unforgettable piece.
On a special note: Keep an eye out on the other younger boxer within the film that allows the film to take a break from the main character’s monologue. That’s James Cosmo’s son Ethan!
The Pyramid Texts is out on Digital Platforms now!
