Most boxing movies, on some level, are about characters finding themselves in the ring. ¡°Dito,¡± actor-turned-director Takashi Yuki¡¯s Philippines-set drama, takes this concept literally. The film¡¯s title means ¡°here¡± in Tagalog, but in the Japanese subtitles the word is often rendered as ibasho, which has a slightly different connotation: somewhere one belongs.
When 17-year-old Momoko (Momoko Tanabe) arrives in Manila in search of her father, Eiji (Yuki), bearing news that her mother has died, she finds him living a frugal existence in the city¡¯s slums. He works as a window cleaner by day and seems to spend the rest of his time training at a local boxing gym in preparation for a fight offer that has yet to materialize. The younger initiates who share the space regard him with curiosity, referring to him as ¡°that old Japanese guy,¡± which is fair enough. In terms of vintage, he¡¯s Rocky Balboa circa ¡°Rocky V.¡±
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