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Directed by Darren Aronofsky,
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The Wrestler This
is a film that resurrects two careers all at the same time, and maybe even
three if you want to count Marisa Tomei. Who’d have thought that Mickey Rourke had so much talent, and flair, and the kind of
fire that compels you to watch him on screen? He plays Robin Ramsinski,
a washed-up wrestler who used to be at the top of his game, where he was
known as Randy the Ram; now he’s probably nearing fifty and wrestling
for a few bucks on weekends at union halls, VFW and American Legion halls,
anyplace that the promoter can set up his ring and put out enough seats. The
rest of the week he’s a warehouse man for a supermarket. Watching him among the other wrestlers
in the dressing room, taking heart from the camaraderie as they go over the
choreography of that night’s matches, seeing the way he binds himself up once again to go into the ring, then
finding how the physical beating accumulates within the body; it plays like a
documentary. Then, outside the
ring, we watch in pain ourselves as he tries to reconnect with the daughter
he abandoned, This is an extraordinary performance
and was deservedly nominated for an Academy Award. The
second career to be resurrected is that of Darren Aronofsky,
who burst onto the scene with “Pi,” one of the great films of the
1990s, then seems to have lost it with the sappy “Requiem for a
Dream” and the unwatchable “The Fountain.” Now let us be glad for “The
Wrestler,” which comes from an original script by Robert D. Siegel, who
believe it or not used to be the editor in chief of The Onion. His script is tight, to the point, and
always just a little understated.
Nothing is hammered home to us.
And Aronofsky has gotten brilliant
performances out of his actors, without ever showing off his camerawork or
overstating the moment. The
third career resurrected is Marisa Tomei, who plays
an aging stripper and lap dancer at a club in the low-rent suburbs of New
Jersey, who obviously likes Randy but won’t have a relationship with
him. Evan
Rachel Wood is Randy’s daughter, who makes one great effort to respond
when her dad tries to reconnect with her; the pain and the hope are there in
her eyes. Altogether, “The
Wrestler” is a brilliant piece of work, hopeful, fascinating, painful,
even torturous to watch –but it rewards every viewer with wonderful
talents at their very best. |