Movie Review - “The Wrestler”
**** STARS
Some of the best movies I have ever seen contain deeply rich characters that are complete polar opposites of me and anything I have ever experienced in life. While watching “The Wrestler” I was completely transported into the life of a washed up wrestler played subtlety and tenderly by the magnificent Mickey Rourke. Through beautifully crafted direction and eloquently written dialogue, I was able to relate to these characters and identify with their struggle.
Rourke’s complex and emotionally jarring depiction of a washed up wrestler in Darren Aronofsky’s film had me completely enthralled from beginning to end. When we first see Rourke as “Randy the Ram” he is a brittle broken down shell of a man. The scars of his life are not only visible on his tired face and worn down body but in his sad and lonely eyes. When Randy plays with the kids in his trailer park you can feel the desperation in his need to not be alone. In the scenes where he is by himself, the quiet stillness of his life is almost deafening in its sadness.
What makes “The Wrestler” a remarkable film are the multiple layers of authenticity in its characters. Rachel Evan Wood is intense and devistatingly harsh as Randy’s estranged daughter. Marisa Tomei also gives a jaw dropping performance as a stripper who meets Ram at work and then is conflicted trying to balance parenthood, love and life on her own. Her performance should garner her another Oscar nomination, finally squishing complaints that she didn’t deserve her Best Supporting Actress award for “My Cousin Vinnie” in 1992.
“The Wrestler” is at times bleak and often stomach-turning, but it definitely works as a heart-tugging character study. If you can look past the hype that is surrounding this film, you will see that if offers viewers far more than just Rourke’s performance. Here is a film that, through its intimacy touches on love, money, family, dreams and death in a way that won’t pile-drive you through the mat. This movie is simply, stellar, it is an American parable and a moving drama found in the unlikeliest of places. No other sports movie I have seen has moved in such a way as this film has, it is an instant American classic.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am
This was an unbelievable film. It was very hard to watch at times, but the ultimate payoff was worth it. This movie was simultaneously heartbreaking, funny, uplifting and lonely. We may witness Mickey Rourke win a deserved and tightly contested oscar this year. One word to describe this move. WOW.