The Wrestler -2008
Any serious film lover can readily remember the moment they experienced their first taste of "Oscars rage." Maybe a select few were there in '41 when Citizen Kane wasn't given its due. Perhaps it was '95 when Forrest Gump beat out Pulp FictionAND Shawshank for Best Picture. No Cruise nom in '99? Hitchcock never for director? Kubrick? The list goes on...and on...and on.
But my personal story of ire came much later on the scene, though it was no less inflamed. Sean Penn for Milk over Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. I still ask you now...Are you fucking kidding me? What part of his performance did you miss? Was it the entire physical transformation? Or the plumbed depths of emotional resonance? The physicality or the quiet emotion? The body slams of the ring, or the plucks of our heart strings? Whatever it was, you were dead wrong.
Everyone says that wrestling is fake. But it's not for these guys. Not for Randy "the Ram" Robinson. Not for the real life wrestlers which populate the lower circuits and are cast right into this picture. For them, wrestling is violent and brutal. These are men that know what it's like to briefly have their 15 minutes of fame, and then to risk life and limb for years after for mere pittance. These are the men whose rubber action figures have only led to canes and knee braces, limps and heart stents.
For this rarely seen look at this side of wrestling, Aronofsky brings us up close and personal. He uses all these dolly shots, with the camera literally following Ram around through small gyms and locker rooms, signing tables, and a certain strip club. Through his eyes we catch all the minutiae of the sport - the steroids and painkillers, hair dying, and tanning salon trips. This is, at its core, an intimate character study.
To that end, not only is Ram growing washed out IN the ring, he's also making a mess of life outside of it. He's long estranged from a daughter who he all but abandoned (played quite deftly by Evan Rachel Wood). His only true friend appears to be a stripper who has some baggage of her own. (P.S. Marisa Tomei is beyond incredible in this film. SO hot, so striking, and so utterly convincing in this role). Ram tries to listen to his doctors and hold down a steady gig at a grocery store. He tries to make amends and gain back what he's lost. He attempts to find love in the dawn of his later years. But the ring keeps calling back to him.
In the end, there is a whole "bleeds for the people" element to this whole tale. Indeed, Tomei quotes the passion of the Christ in reference to Ram's choice of life work. So, this young stud from the 80's who's now close to washed up (note the meta elements for Mickey Rourke himself here) steps back into the spotlight for one last dance. Into his sanctuary he goes, and what we glean there is beautiful AND devastating to behold.
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