Beautiful but heartbreaking.

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2009)

On paper, 'The Wrestler' just seems like another 'Rocky'-type sports movie - but within minutes, that preconception flies out the window and you realise that, despite the well-worn premise, this moving drama is something else entirely.
I haven't seen a film in ages that manages to be both uplifting and truly downbeat at the SAME time. There's no clear separation between the two; in 'The Wrestler', those two things stem from one another. This might not make sense until you see the film, but it all comes down to one man, his flaws and his passion. That man is Randy 'The Ram' Robinson.
A huge wrestling star in the 80's, Randy has seen his best years pass him by - at the expense of his family. Now, 20 years on, Randy reluctantly works in a supermarket, spends his weekends wrestling at school gyms and community centres for small crowds and otherwise blows his money on steroids and a stripper named Cassidy.
Inside the ring, Randy feels alive and most importantly, feels loved. Outside in the real world, his life is an empty mess. What makes 'The Wrestler' so different to standard sports dramas, is not in the fight for victory (after all, the sport itself is inherently a performance), but rather in one man's desperate efforts to maintain the bubble in which he's lived for 20 years. One the one hand, it's thrilling to see him in action but on the other, it's depressing to think that he has nothing else in his life.
Randy is a good guy at heart, but generally messes up and doesn't know how to fix his mistakes. After suffering a heart attack, he decides to retire and tries and reconnect with his estranged daughter and build a romance with Cassidy. However, the outcome one might expect is not the one that we get and the effect is heartbreaking.
Mickey Rourke absolutely nails the role and truly deserves an Oscar for his honest and emotional performance - he also looks fantastic in the ring. 'Sin City' brought him back to the big time, but this his his show and if he doesn't win that Oscar I'll eat my lycra shorts. Marisa Tomei is pretty good as Cassidy, whose own career parallels with Randy's. Her character, however, knows how to separate her life from her job (also a performance for the cheering crowd) and serves more to demonstrate how Randy is incapable of doing that.
The script and direction are both very well done - Darren Aronofsky reins in his own style to suit the story which is admirable. There are still some little touches and subtle tricks, however, which have a tremendous impact. For one example, Randy makes his way to the deli counter for his first shift - the camera follows him as though he's making his way to a big match, with the sounds of cheering crowds in the background. Randy pauses, takes a deep breath and goes through the plastic flaps - and the sound vanishes. It's a perfect insight into Randy's borderline-delusional mind.
But Randy isn't crazy, by no means, he's just passionate for one thing in life. Unfortunately, that one thing is just an act, a show - which makes the whole thing so tragic. I recommend 'The Wrestler' and only knocked 1 star off for a couple of times where the film seemed stuck in a routine, whether that was intentional or not, but it wasn't a major problem. Go see it!