Fascinating

Rating: Null/10 (1 September 2009)

Yesterday I saw The Wrestler for the second time and I came to the conclusion that I really do love every single minute of this movie and it is easily one of my favorites.The direction is outstanding and so is Mikey Rourke's performance.The wrestler tells the story of Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a faded wrestler who was a star in the 80's. Now he only does small wrestling shows,lives alone in a trailer and he's the shadow of the man he used to be.One day he collapses after a show and at the hospital he is told he won't be able to wrestle anymore.Feeling defeated, he starts to invest more in the relationship with Cassidy,a stripper in a local bar,and tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter...First thing you'll notice in The Wrestler is the camera work,the camera is most of the time behind the lead character following him,this is not only innovative but as strange as it seems it gives the viewer a better perception/understanding of the character. Its almost like the viewer is the character.Mickey Rourke's performance is simply amazing, and as many have said is hard to know where the character ends and Rourke begins which makes the overall experience even better. Not every actor could pull off this kind of performance,so Rourke was definitely the right choice and I'm glad Aronofsky got that and fought against the studio who wanted a "bigger" star. The score composed by Clint Mansel(what a genius) is beautiful and compliments the film.Evan Rachel Wood deserves to be mentioned as well, she has a small part but she takes the most of it.At the end of the day The Wrestler is more about people then the sport itself and that is what makes this movie so great.Pay special attention to the amazing and tremendously emotional speech by Ram(that also reflects Rourke's life) in the last scenes of the movie; its a brilliant speech and pretty much sums up everything that happen until that point, who the character is and the place he's at in that moment.Fascinating.
10/10