James Toback’s naked, frank confessional of ol’ ear-biter hit this year’s Cannes critics like an uppercut. Toback unerringly tracks the first four decades of ‘Iron’ Mike’s life.

It’s some story: bullied childhood, criminal career, pugilistic passions, choked pain, tortured emotions, lost father figures, sexual hunger, bad choices, worse friends, and the youngest ever undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. It’s selective, sure, but Toback’s honesty cuts through Tyson’s bestial image to reveal a fractured, vulnerable man still struggling to understand his own flaws.

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