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Web-Exclusive Review: The Wrestler

Rachel Lux on 1/5/09 @ 2:02 PM

DRAMA

THE WRESTLER (FOX SEARCHLIGHT)
STARS > Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
DIRECTOR > Darren Aronofsky
RATING > 4/5
OPENS > Playing now in some markets, with new cities added every week. Check here to see when it's playing near you.

History may yet prove that he went on to make the most uplifting movies of the early 21st century, but for right now, no other director has managed to invoke the feelings of abject depression and utter despair so effectively and consistently as Darren Aronofsky. With the harrowing bummer that was 2000's Hubert Selby adaptation Requiem For A Dream and the heartbreaking, phantasmagoric cancer fantasy of 2006's The Fountain, Aronofsky plumbed the depths of modern human misery with a scintillating visual style that contrasted the dark and desperate psyches of his characters. In The Wrestler, however, the grey, blighted landscape of New Jersey's Passaic County serves as both a backdrop and psychological mirror for the hard-luck circumstances of a washed-up professional wrestler by the name of Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke), a kind of a latter-day sad-sack amalgam of '80s WWF stars Jake "The Snake" Roberts (whose real life spiraled into alcoholism and drug addiction) and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (who had a signature move not unlike the one incorporated by Rourke's character).

His heyday long gone and his age catching up with him, Robinson is relegated to performing for paltry sums at American Legion halls in front of negligible crowds. Meanwhile, he works part time at a grocery store, lives in a trailer where he can't keep up with the rent, and pines for an aging stripper (Tomei, who at age 43, looks fantastic with no clothes on). Oh, and he's got an estranged daughter (Wood) who can't fucking stand him. On paper it seems like a potentially hilarious comedy, with maybe Will Ferrell or John C. Reilly in the lead, right? In Aronofsky's hands, it's one of the most depressing films of the last decade. Shot in an unflinching, handheld vérité style, The Wrestler is proof that the right director/actor combination--Rourke truly gives the performance of his career--can transform a seemingly well-worn storyline about a crumbling has-been and a stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold into a wrenching and often brutal meditation upon the wreckage left in the wake of fleeting youth. --J. Bennett

Film Link: thewrestlermovie.com

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rachel_soho Posted 01.09.09 at 05:25PM
I can't wait to see this.



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