Film Review - The Wrestler (****)

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2008)

Be warned, what you are about to read is my gushing over this film. I can't help it. It's my favorite of the year thus far although admittedly there are still a number of films I have yet to see.
Darren Aronofsky bounces back from his most recent and under appreciated fantasy film, "The Fountain" with his smooth and compelling Direction in "The Wrestler." Not the avant-garde style we've grown accustomed to with Aronofsky but he knocks it out of the park with the characters emotional prowess and his ability to make you deeply connect with them. The story, written by Robert Siegel, who previous to this has only one credit to his name, is a captivating and brutally honest story about a man coping with life when the only thing he has and has ever known is taken away from him leaving him alone with nothing but a search for who he is.
The arc of this film is flawless and it starts with an adrenaline pumping rendition of 80's metal band Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head" blasting over a slow moving collage of fliers, posters, pictures and event tickets depicting the glory days of wrestling star Randy "The Ram" Robinson played by the talented but much maligned Mickey Rourke. You need not look any further than the lyrics of this song to find out who "The Ram" is. There's a love-fest with the 80's in that there are parallels the film has with 80's heavy metal music and the WWF during that time with Hulk Hogan and the Iron Sheik being part of pop culture, as it was in the early years here between "The Ram" and his adversary "The Ayotolla". The music is great and every time you hear an 80's song you get goosebumps... or is that just me? The films closing credits are no other than Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen with his gruff voice and Oscar buzzing song titled, go figure, "The Wrestler". Everything in between those two songs is a clinic on film making and a beautifully well made piece of art, taking you out of the glamor and limelight wrestling stars can obtain but into the behind the scenes world where you must face the repercussions of the physical abuse taken by nature of the sport as well as the lonely empty feeling of the audacious lifestyle.
Mickey Rourke in a career reviving role plays "The Ram" magnificently as a physically beaten up hanger-on wrestling star in the twilight of his career. Due to health concerns he's forced to retire and begins thinking about life after wrestling. Outside of his career, his only source of companionship's comes from the neighborhood kids, that actually seem to have enough sense to recognize "The Ram's" state of loneliness and a stripper that he's befriended at the local Strip Club that goes by the stage name Cassidy played rock solidly by a gorgeous Marisa Tomei. Tomei's fearless performance is so strong I would actually consider it to be her finest work to date, which is clearly a mouthful considering she won an Academy Award for her work in 'My Cousin Vinny". She brings such a human element to a profession that you wouldn't likely find yourself rooting for, frankly, and she pulls off the challenging feat by leaving you actually feeling compassion and sadness for her. Incidentally, she looks amazing in this and let me just say there is plenty of her to see. Wow! It's clear there is a connection between Cassidy and "The Ram" that runs deeper than a typical customer-client relationship and when "The Ram" tells her of his retirement plans and hopes to take their relationship to the next level she suggests that he get in touch with his estranged teenage daughter whom he hardly knows after walking out on her while she was very young. The uber-talented Evan Rachel Wood continues her rise to super stardom with another poignantly strong performance as a teenage girl that wants her father back yet clearly deeply hurt but the damage that has already been done. When these worlds collide it's just beautiful cinema between two characters and I can see their scenes together being widely used in acting classes abroad. They should be anyway.
It's to often stated that a specific actor was "born to play the role" when a career defining piece of work vaults them into critical acclaim and a legitimate Oscar contender, which I will be shocked and extremely disappointed if Rourke isn't recognized with a nomination here, but in this case it is warranted. Rourke doesn't play "The Ram", Rourke IS "The Ram". This is what they mean when they say "art imitating life." I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was watching the internal struggles brought on by the reckless lifestyle of actor Mickey Rourke rather than that of Randy "The Ram" Robinson even though they are very much one in the same. The movie will stick with you and it's performances are eerie and haunting in a way that you want more, you miss them. You cannot help but acquire feelings for these characters on some level and there are many to subconsciously choose from. You name the emotion, and it is somewhere in the dynamics between the leads. One of the years best films, without a doubt.