THE WRESTLER (Darren Aronofsky, 2008) ***1/2

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2009)

This year I have been slow in catching up with the major Oscar contenders before the big night itself and this is only the second one of them that I have seen; considering the hype which preceded this film (even here on this Forum) and fully knowing my own skepticism about contemporary fare, I was wary of having to face bitter disappointment once I got to it. The irony is that, in spite of the ultra-familiar central premise and theme (it's basically an indie version of ROCKY BALBOA [2006] but set in the world of Wrestling, about a has-been regaining self-respect and trying to sort out his personal life), the film still compels attention throughout  largely because it takes the character study route. It is certainly rare that an actor is given as direct an opportunity to invest a role with his own personal experiences but, in hindsight, all the praise showered on Mickey Rourke's comeback performance is well-deserved. However, his female co-stars Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood  playing the protagonist's girlfriend (an over-age stripper with a kid of her own) and estranged daughter respectively  aren't forgotten by their director and allowed to leave their mark on the film as well; usually, I would have deplored the sex'n'drugs incident with the teenage groupie as being totally gratuitous but seeing how this was another of Rourke's hit-and-miss attempts to connect with the two important females in his life, provides immense poignancy and the requisite touch of authenticity (aided, of course, by the unglamorous milieux, including Rourke's humiliating stretch as a deli counter attendant). Admittedly, I used to be a big fan of wrestling as a kid, until the obviousness of the matches being staged (as opposed to real) started to grate on me; however, the sometimes extremely bloody fights on display here  especially one in which Rourke's opponent empties a stapler on him!  reminded me even more of 2 wrestling-themed Japanese animated series I have fond memories of: TIGER MASK (1969-71) and its follow-up (1981-82)! Still, I was surprised to see the various contestants actually 'scripting' their bouts beforehandnot to mention Rourke helping out with the sensationalistic aspect of the sport via self-inflicted wounds while supposedly knocked out in the ring! Another big plus to the film is the nostalgic 1980s soundtrack full of big stadium rockers, but the ambiguously open-ended conclusion was perhaps misjudged.