Director Darren Aronofsky who is best known for his directorial work on Requiem for a Dream (2000) brings us the touching tale of a has-been professional wrestler who struggles to restore his youthful vigour and fame while coming to terms with the waning relationship he has with his daughter. Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was once a well-known and admired wrestler performing on the big stage with a large band of followers. However twenty years after his prime Randy finds himself penniless, fighting for various independent promotions and fighting a life-threatening heart disease.
Randy’s inability to perform outside the ring as a father has resulted in him losing contact with his daughter Stephanie (Evan Wood) and has left him to take care of himself while he often finds refuge in the local strip club where he befriends a middle-aged stripper Pam (Marisa Tomei).
The Wrestler is an unconventional movie that hinges solely on its performances due to the fact that despite its relatively simple but heart-breaking storyline its effectiveness is only as strong as its delivery. In this regard The Wrestler scores a perfect ten for me. Audiences will witness the resurrection of Mickey Rourke, once a semi-pro boxer and famous for his roles in Sin City and 9 2/1 Weeks the actor’s career went awry after a few failed films and a very poor plastic surgeon patched up his boxing wounds. The actor redeems himself by playing a character not too far away from his own and stays intense and honest throughout the film.
His performance is no doubt the best performance of the year despite Sean Penn predictably picking up the Oscar for playing Harvey Milk. Who says the Oscars are political? Despite the Academy shunning the performance Rourke deservedly received a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award for his portrayal. Marisa Tomei also received a nomination for her role in the film and should also be mentioned as a great contributor to the final product. The film also reveals some of the tricks of the trade as it were uncovering the entertainment only side of professional wrestling which some of the more misinformed fans of the WWE will find a little hard to swallow.
Aronofsky’s style of directing is notably gritty and intense as seen in his previous work but none of his former projects have ever been as character-driven as this one. The direction is almost completely at the hands of the actors that the Wrestler loses all sense of being a film and more of a docu-drama. The soundtrack for this film included Bruce Springsteen’s touching original “The Wrestler.” Disregarding its imaginative title the song was once again over-looked at this year’s Oscars giving way to Slumdog Millionaire’s entertaining but ultimately ridiculous songs.
The film is no doubt one of the best films of the year but may not have warranted a best picture nomination solely on Rourke’s and Tomei’s performance. However, I still would recommend to everyone and would hold it in my book at least as the best film of 2008. |
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