Review: The Wrestler

I already mentioned that I traded a voucher I'd gotten in place of a ticket to Zack and Miri Make a Porno for a ticket to Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. It had just won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, it sounded interesting, and perhaps it didn't suck like 2006's The Fountain. Actually, I didn't see The Fountain, so I don't know why I say that; it actually rates pretty well on imdb. I think I just kind of heard that and assumed it was true because I'm a horrible journalist.

So like I was saying, I went to the movie, which stars Mickey Rourke as Randy 'The Ram' Robinson, a wrestler from the 1980's who has fame in some circles, but apparently never made it to the realm of Hulk Hogan. Randy lives in a trailer, struggles to make rent, and when he can't, he sleeps, of course, in his Dodge RAM conversion van. We see Randy for what he is today; a guy whose closest friend outside the dressing room is a stripper, played by Marisa Tomei, whose name is Pam, stage name Cassidy; a guy who gets locked out of his trailer on a regular basis when his share of the take at the door just isn't making ends meet; a guy who sucks down pills of the legal and illegal variety, supplements, and anything else he thinks he needs to maintain his "physique"; a guy who desperately wants to reconcile with his daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood) but doesn't know how; and probably most pathetically, a guy who is grasping onto the past, which has long faded away.

Honestly, if I wouldn't have know ahead of time, I never would have guessed that he was portrayed by Rourke. He sinks so far into this character, and I'm convinced that the bulk he put on for the film changed his face. It was an incredible performance in what Arronofsky admits is a small film. Stylistically, it's nothing like Requiem for a Dream, but uses lots of hand held cameras and often I could imagine a crew of about four people, often using the sick, yellow fluorescent lighting of dressing rooms and grocery stores. This only enhanced the low budget life that Randy led.

It was only fitting that it started raining shortly after this film let out. I was already thoroughly depressed, so why not get it out of the way? You might want to pair this movie up with the latest Disney flick if you go see it. It's a downer, but it is a very well done movie. My imdb rating: 8/10.