Silence of The Wrestlers

Rating: 7/10 (23 March 2015)

The film is so quiet, much like "Capote" of the same directing hand, Bennett Miller. Miller seems to like a thin story, sometimes close to none, and digs deep into a few characters he chooses to reflect the society at large. It takes great skills to give the viewers so little, to be quite reluctant in giving any leads, and to grab them by the heart as this film shows. A lot of films depict drug assumption as a part of their stories, but you feel as if you took the cocaine yourself while John and Mark did so. You feel so much for the characters, so the final shooting scene makes you feel like a true story that happens in your own neighborhood. There are larger points in this film, for example homosexual repression, mother-son relationship, classes in America, etc., but they seem effectively belittled by our feelings for the characters. We do care about them so that we do not care about what they are, have become, or may be anymore. Not many films of today's chaotic world can give us such depth. Bennett Miller should be careful about choosing his next projects, as his depth of filmmaking power should not be wasted. I will suggest a non-American theme like the mystery around Thailand's King Ananda assassination in his own chamber or a portrayal of China's brutal Cultural Revolution. He will make a nice placement for those histories.