Heart and humanity from the director who has yet to do wrong

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2009)

Darren Aronofsky has largely made a career of putting his audience into the POV of his topics, from the migraine-induced paranoia of pi to the draining addiction of Requiem for a Dream to the spiritual fascination of The Fountain and now, to the momentum-fueled downfall of The Wrestler. Ten minutes into this film and I knew here was a film destined, yet again, to be underrated. Critics are praising Mickey Rourke's performance right and left, but Aronofsky is a risk-taking director and doesn't exactly play it easy here. Most of this movie is an over-the-shoulder perspective of Rourke's shambling form, and though most critics will probably interpret this as aiming for a pseudo-documentary effect, I hope the introspective nature of it isn't lost on too many people--here, the audience is made to feel the hulking weight of The Ram's form as their own body, with his stuttered breathing and pained lip-smacking creating austere ambiance.
Once again Aronofsky shows off his acumen both in the stylistic directing of the movie itself plus with an intelligent and sincere screenplay. Some high-notes of the genre are hit, from the estranged daughter to the heart-of-gold stripper to minor drug use, but none of it comes off as sentimental and this is definitely not Rocky whatever-number-we're-on. Aronofsky is interested mostly in showing people who've lost the one thing that gives them talent (their body) slowly destruct their minds. The flag-waving spectatorship cues weirdly inherent in most movies is kept to the background, but the blue-collar sensibility is held dear and given more room and, frankly, more humanity and reality than just taking it for granted. Of all of Aronofsky's works, this is one with a specific voice, and Rourke inhabits that voice so well that I do have to agree with the lauding critics and mention that Mickey Rourke deserves an Oscar for this role.
Meanwhile, it's emotionally devastating, but this time with an endearing humanism that makes it a lot easier to stomach than Requiem for a Dream. The problem getting people's interest in Aronofsky is that he doesn't play easy with his audience, and as a highly idiosyncratic director, is very hard to introduce. Finally he's come up with a movie that it seems almost anybody can really enjoy and appreciate, except for the problem that people just simply don't like movies that stay on the back of characters' heads (the same unfair criticism got shoved on Punch Drunk Love) and are willing to be as blunt as this. Nonetheless, this movie is amazingly crafty and endearing. I recommend it heartily.
--PolarisDiB