Naturalism A at its Finest

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2008)

The Best Film I've seen all year (10/10)! Mickey Rourke drove me to tears. The story follows the life of a pathetic, downtrodden, aging wrestler who tries to make amends with the broken relationships that surround him.
It's naturalism A at its finestreally shows the dirt and destitute living conditions that some fall victim to. However, that dirt and destitution is not without cleansing, hope, repentance, forgiveness, and optimism.
It's predominantly observatory, as if the camera acts like a fly on the wall for audiences to merely taste the life of this very "real" person. Overall, the film basks in a supernal light because it paints ugly people in beautiful colors. It gives a voice to the voiceless and shatters the stereotypes of wrestlers, strippers, drug abusers and bastard children. Truly humbling! Aaronofsky continues to amaze me with his dynamic film-making style. It's very unlike anything he's done before (independent of the gritty and raw edges he provides for his characters though). This might be his best film yet.