Review: The Wrestler

The Wrestler (2008)

starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Todd Barry, Judah Friedlander

dir. Darren Aronofsky

I've only been to one live professional wrestling show and that's what it is, a show. I never felt the emotional gouging of physical pain. It plays like a theatrical piece, a put on by a bunch of juiced guys who figured out some choreography and succeed and/or failed in executing it. Darren Aronfsky's The Wrestler is a beast from a different planet. In the first few minutes the viewer is in on the discussing of how a match should play out, but then thrown into the ring and the very real physical pain of executing those moves. Sure it's fake, but it's also a grueling exercise to entertain a small number of people. Nothing in this film feels staged or theatrical, it is an exercise in reality and the fringe-living human beings who populate it.

To say Rourke is great is an understatement. He's brilliant, mind blowing, so emotionally honest that he inhabits Randy "The Ram" Robinson completely. There is a lot of talk going around about the performance coming from a place that may be more Rourke than the character, I think it's bullshit. The case only stands up in Robinson's final soliloquy to a crowd of screaming fans. When dealing with his daughter or bonding with Marisa Tomei's stripper Cassidy, it is inspired and never goes over the top. Rourke huffs and groans his way through walking down a hall and you can feel the years of abuse Randy has put on his body. That's not Rourke, that's Rourke and Aronofsky interpreting the character of Robinson. I can't say enough about how touched I was by this troubled man who made decisions and in the end realizes he will stick by them.

Aronofsky has stepped away from the stylized images he has used in the past and allows the camera to become a part of Randy. It is there solely to show us who this man is and where his life has taken him. It's not devoid of style, far from it, it is a style that is built around Randy. It's fluid, but gritty, much like Randy in the ring. It is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and Aronofsky shows that he can work with a script and not force a script to fit his style of film making.

Aronofsky also proves again that he is incredibly strong with actors. They say half a directors job is in the casting and the choices Aronofsy makes are spot on. Marisa Tomei is on a roll after a great turn in Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007) . This time she crafts a woman who has become so guarded and protective that she is afraid to do anything. You can feel the back and forth argument going through her all the time and as soon as she lets her guard down for even a moment of happiness, she refuses to lose control and brings it back in. Not the thought out progression of a character's emotions, but a person who has been through the shit and doesn't want to go through it again. Oh, and she looks amazing for a woman her age. Apparently she's making forty the new twenty-five and getting away with it.

Evan Rachel Wood is excellent in the few scenes she is given as Randy's abandoned daughter. You feel with her as she rediscovers a father she never had and then has to let those emotions die so she can form her own life. The high of watching her and Rourke dance in an abandoned dance hall is equal to the shattering moment where she wants him out of her life and he understands why he must go. It's tough, raw and soulful. Wood has been and continues to be a talent to keep watching.

The more it sits with me, the more admiration and adulation I have for this movie. If this is not the years best for me, it is easily in the top two or three. It's worth a repeat visit to the theater, DVD purchase, second DVD purchase when they put out the special edition and even buying a film print just to say I own it. It's that good.