Movie: THE WRESTLER (English)
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Year: 2008 
Country: America 
Genre: Drama
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood
Duration: 1h 50m (app)

IMDB Rating: 8.2/10

Darren Aronofsky who gave the cult favorite ‘Requiem of a Dream’ at the beginning of the millennium, takes us through a one man’s journey of redemption, this time in ‘The Wrestler’. Calling ‘The Wrestler’ to be a well made movie would be an understatement – it packs along with it an emotional punch.

It follows the story of once-toast-of-the-arena Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson through the fading days of his wrestling career who has to come to terms with his aging. Yes, it has all the unable-to-pay-bills, living-at-the-roadside and familyless-emotionally-deprived protagonist having a soft corner for a single-mom-stripper-with-a-principle but Darren Aronofsky sure knows better. None of the clichéd settings affect the movie in what it wants to be – a straight from the heart tale which touches your aesthetic senses.

Because, in this movie the wrestler is not telling the story, it’s we who watch him to know his life. Aronofosky makes the camera follow the wrestler in his own course of life throughout the movie. The Wrestler lives his life and we get the glimpse of it – a surely wonderful way to do a one man story. Watch out for the scene where we follow Mickey as he enters his workplace on his first day of work after retirement – the ironical applause at the background takes us right into the heart of the lead character without bothering to give a glimpse of his facial emotion. Class!

With a movie being made about a wrestler, it becomes inherently important to etch his profession in the minds of the audience. The Action sequences are amazingly shot thanks to some crisp, powerful, realistic and terrifically photographed fight sequences. The dense cinematography by Maryse Alberti creates part of the magic. The Screenplay is neat and taut and does what is necessary for a protagonist on whom the film should be based upon. The choice of songs adds edge to the story-telling. The ensemble of Rock songs from Scorpions to the climactic ‘Sweet-Child-O-Mine’ by Guns ‘N’ Roses adds an edgy cool to the movie.

Marisa Tomei delivers a neat performance as a single-mom-stripper who shares an unsaid liking with Mickey Rourke. Evan Rachel Wood the only other known player (at least to me) in this movie also gives a performance fitting to the role of a daughter deprived of fatherly love. Yet, as it should be it is Mickey Rourke all the way. ‘The Wrestler’ is to Rourke what ‘Rocky’ was to Stallone. He seems to be the perfect choice to play this character and carries the movie totally on his shoulders. He won the Golden Globe for 2008 and should have won the Oscar too, but was tipped by the method acting of Sean Penn for ‘Milk’.

Looking back at the journey of the wrestler, it’s a touching, raw and heart-felt film although it never consciously tries to be. Darren Aronofsky has produced a gem of a movie based on a single character more than amply supported by Mickey Rourke. Although some might find it pretty slow, the journey is well worth it!

PROS

Direction

Mickey Rourke

CONS

Can’t think of any.

RATINGS

Direction: ****1/2

Mickey Rourke: ****

OVERALL: ****

Personal Value: 8.6 / 10.0

If you liked ‘The Wrestler’, check out:

Requiem for a Dream