Stylebender

I must confess to knowing little about kickboxing, but the combination of kickboxing and dancing was too much to resist. I was not let down, Stylebender is a compelling documentary that follows kickboxer Israel Adesanya through the ups and downs of his childhood and career, tapping into masculinity, bullying, mental health and the art of fighting and dance.

Adesanya’s nickname Stylebender is a salute to his love for anime. Its original genesis is from the Anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender. In this film the lead character named Aang is the Last Airbender. There are multiple other types of benders, such as Firebender, Waterbender, etc.

This is where Stylebender comes in. Evidently Israel has bent the multiple martial arts styles and used them to his own advantage. He has mixed multiple styles from the gym and anime. As he says, “I blurred the lines between reality and fantasy; I am that line: The Last Stylebender.”

Israel is one of the few athletes who has reached great heights with sheer guts, hard work, and determination. The middleweight champion never hesitated but instead took risks. He chose to fight Alex Pereira for a fourth time, even after losing all the previous bouts against him. When the two toughest fighters fought for the fourth time, the Nigerian fighter won the bout in the second round via knockout. The victory made Adesanya the middleweight champion for the second time.

With near-unfiltered access to his world, director Zoe McIntosh and her team capture the athlete’s highs and lows - “My goal was always to get under the gloss and hype to unlock the poetry, emotion, and contradictions inherent in Israel. I wanted to make a film that spoke not only to MMA fans, but to a wider audience who would connect with Israel’s authenticity and the importance of being your own ‘freaky’ self.”

The film details Adesanya’s struggles, from the bullying he experienced in his youth to feeling comfortable with his own masculinity in the present. A highlight (or lowlight) is the athlete’s social media controversy, in which he was criticized for making light of rape culture in a video on Instagram talking trash to his then-upcoming opponent Kevin Holland. Initially, Adesanya outright refuses to acknowledge his own mistake. In one scene, the camera sits beside Adesanya in his car as he vents about people misunderstanding his competitive headspace.

But what eventually emerges is a human being who is still growing, a young man with a spotlight on him learning how to deal with fame. Whether it be through therapy, or in the wake of training partner Fau Vake’s tragic death, we see Adesanya growing. We see it through his family, his teammates, and his head coach, Eugene Bareman.

We follow Adesanya before a fight: we see him dance, get his nails done, we see him calmly assert daily affirmations in a foggy mirror. If the sports-subject documentary’s goal is to peel back the layers behind an athlete’s legendary status, McIntosh accomplishes what she sets out for by the opening title shot alone. It is a moving and at times uncompromising exploration of Israel’s life and times that draws you into his world.

Israel has made no secret on what he is going to do after retirement, he would love to work in the anime field. This unusual mixed martial arts style does work for him, as he throws in a lot of moves from the anime series which keeps the opponent guessing. He has successfully demonstrated many of the moves from Anime.

Stylebender is a fascinating journey that gives one of sports’ biggest stars a chance to be vulnerable on screen and in his day-to-day life.

Barry Hill OAM