The Wrestler (2008)

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2019)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Starring Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Todd Barry, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Ernest Miller, Dylan Keith Summers, Judah Friedlander, Wass Stevens, Mark Margolis. (R)
Unflinching, fascinating study of Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke), a professional wrestler a couple decades removed from his prime, barely scraping by while dealing with sustained physical pain and emotional regret. Aronofsky's raw, documentary-style approach to the material sinks the viewer deeper into the wrestler's world, utilizing evocatively shabby and grimy New Jersey locations to match the broken-down nature of its central figure. Rourke presumably drew upon his own fallen-from-grace life experience for his portrayal and gives, to forgive the clichÃ©d plaudit, the performance of a lifetime; Wood and especially Tomei score as well, respectively playing his estranged daughter and a stripper struggling to separate her personal and professional lives (and Randy's place in both). Hard to say what's tougher to watch: the torment inflicted in the ring (including some memorably gruesome stuff involving barbed wire and staples) or the torment worn on his grizzled face as he takes stock of his life, wears the weight of so many failures, and continues the pattern of destroying that which he tries so desperately to forge and mend. Some of the plotting can be a bit predictable--the relationship with his daughter can't evade inevitability--but this movie is defined by character, setting, and mood far more than narrative progression.
88/100