CMFH Film Reviews

2008, USA
Adventure, Drama, Romance
Review by Deborah Dearth

Posters for the big fight, Quiet Riot amped in the background and a champion 20 years past his prime could beg for a return to the ring in a bitter rematch complete with tears and a title belt. But this ain't Rocky and director Darren Aronofsky has no need for such cheap tricks in his latest film, The Wrestler.

Aronofsky has grown as a filmmaker since he first garnered attention with Pi which broke the world down by numbers, Requiem for a Dream which ripped apart drug addiction and The Fountain which sought hope in a seemingly hopeless quest. The director steps outside of the fantastical and glossy grit by reducing The Wrestler to its raw essentials, maintaining the internal focus that has become his trademark.

Mickey Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a WWE-style wrestler with flashy tights and a signature move (the ramrod, of course). A hero in the ring and an inspiration in the locker room, he is adored despite his deteriorating body and sagging attendance. No longer able to bounce back after each fight, he spends all of his time and money maintaining a muscular shell that creates the façade of indestructibility. He works all week just to be able to stride into the limelight on the weekends, the crowd cheering him through his pain.

Aronofsky uses this moment to brilliant effect, the camera following an otherwise unknown man as he waits to emerge from behind the curtain, pumped by the support of such an odd tribute. The gritty, handheld style feels unobtrusive -- the personal diary of a man for whom a few dedicated fans may flip through his memoirs.

Rourke is excellent in the title role, and it is hard to imagine a better fit. As someone who has bookended his career on the fighting stage and torn apart his career on the acting stage, his physical self bears little resemblance to the tough pretty boys he portrayed in the '80s (9½ Weeks, this is not). He beefed up for the character Aronofsky designed around him, and his struggle as a man whose best moments come during bloodshed is hard-won.

This is a film of great violence. Though it is plainly revealed that each fight is choreographed between the opponents, their crowd pleasing tactics are still physical. They may fake a head to the beam, but the razor used to draw blood is real. As is the glass, barbed wire and most of the other absurd props that drive the fans crazy. Only the most bloodthirsty of audiences will not be cringing as the medic removes shards from the skin after a fight.

Yet this violent depiction is important to emphasize the brutal sacrifice needed to find affection. In his everyday life, he is beloved by the neighborhood trailer park kids and yet disowned by his own daughter, Stephanie. Played briefly by the tortured soul that is Evan Rachel Wood, their relationship reveals a past that no longer matches Randy's current gentle nature and yet finds home in the character's rocky history.

With no needed discussion about his past with Stephanie's mother, Randy seeks comfort from stripper Cassidy. A woman who desires a connection but is ruled by practical boundaries and her own frustrations with age (despite a body that in reality no strip club patron would refuse), her character wants a life without the spotlight. Marisa Tomei guides Cassidy with thoughtful reservation, as her character remains wary of a relationship that results from her strip club persona.

The Wrestler is an affecting, intimate portrayal of a man dedicated to his craft, aware of his limitations and yet fighting time to add a few more grains of sand to his hourglass, shards and all.