Gaku Takahashi is a professional Japanese fighter. He became the victim of a hate crime in Los Angeles, in 2020. This short exposes Takahashi his valiant attempts to return to the ring.

Early on in the film, a phone recording is heard. The athlete tries to detail his trauma to a disinterested person on the other end of the phone. Seemingly, they want the message be delivered quickly and with economy.Takahashi splutters that he was assaulted on the road, done by a person who took offence to his race. Sounding almost apologetic reporting the event, the boxer looks sadly at the camera, now acting like a fly-on-the-wall, showing his inner thoughts.

Furthering the sadness, Takahashi looks at archival clips of his glory days; a boxer capable of taking down any man worth his salt. He is determined not to let this take him down, so he practices in a training ground, hoping that he might one day return to the boxing circuit as a champion. Using this as a beacon of hope, the Japanese man surveys the United States, a country that offers him virtually no support, at such devastating moment in his life. Gaku: One Last Round demonstrates that some Americans still discriminate against the Japanese. This may be related to the memories of Pearl Harbor

Although brief, Gaku: One Last Round delivers a meaty subject; a narrative of redemption. The titular hero is admirable, keen to pick himself up after a difficult ordeal. The work follows Takahashi in the time following the incident, and introduces himself as a boxer who has suffered a setback. It’s not his time to retire, despite boxing having a relatively short span for any champion fighter.

Director Taige Shi uses clever tricks to showcase the inner ferocity. Focusing on a punch bag, the camera lingers on it even after Takahashi has left the room, and the lights have turned off. In this single moment, the equipment symbolises the combatant, carrying on even after everyone has turned their back on him. Takahashi limps in his apartment, a modest place. When he sits in a doctor’s office ruminating on the accident on the freeway, precise sound effects support the narrative: traffic and horns going off wildly. When he reflects on the punches levelled at him in 2020, the audience hears the sound of fists thumping. While the viewer never witnesses the attack, it is felt. He returns to physical therapy, gradually finding the strength to return to the boxing ring.

Driving across Los Angeles, the central hero is struck by flashbacks. “I can’t say not anything,” he mutters, just loud enough for the camera to pick up on it. Unsure who he can talk to, he speaks in silent breaths; like a child in a foster family looking for a person who will love him. Achingly sad, the moment showcases a lone traveller in a place where he should be happiest: his vehicle. And yet the eyes flicker, the mutters get louder and the nervous facial gestures grow more pronounced.

The film ends with a heartbreaking. Overall, this is a brief, honest and brave biography.

Gaku: One Last Round premiered at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival.