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MOVIE REVIEW:
THE WRESTLER
(2009)
DIRECTOR:
Darren Aronofsky.
STARRING:
Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood.
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Does anybody else have those mornings where you wake up and for some reason or another you're feeling particularly less ignorant of the advancement of your life? You pull yourself out of bed, shower up and stare in the mirror. You may well be chubbier, perhaps some wrinkles, bit less hair, a bit MORE hair, it could be anything. But all you know is you've had your eyes closed for the last 5 years and suddenly on this one morning you've noticed that here you are aging again. It's an abrupt wake-up call that cannot be personally outdone to the individual. Realising one's mortality during an in-depth personal inspection partnered with deep thought can be quite frightening. Wow, it's going to end one day and here I am experiencing physical limitations presented to me by that dirty bastard, age.
Technically, this is what The Wrestler is about. A fantastically well made film, presenting all the heart and quality that only a more thought provoking indie film could present. With a movie like Requiem for a Dream under his belt, director Darren Aronofsky doesn't have all that much to prove to me. I know he's not only capable but extremely talented in projecting his exact vision onto the screen. Requiem is a favourite movie of mine, despite having only watched it 2 or 3 times. This is simply because it is so well made that it simply makes me feel too sick to bear watching it again within the next couple of years! That means this guy knows his stuff. The Wrestler doesn't let him down. It's an old-school indie film amongst a ridiculous time for the film industry.
We have stupid movies like Die Hard 4.0 (Live Free or Die Hard), Sex and the City (shudders - what the FUCK!?), 10,000 B.C. and Meet The Spartans filling the cinemas, not to mention the countless hacked up remakes of once great movies. We have OSCAR buzz for a BATMAN movie (whether Heath's performance be brilliant or not, let's not forget it's a goddamn Batman movie and it is NOT comparable to The Godfather II). Amongst all this stupidity it pleases me to still see a film like The Wrestler standing tall amongst these movie giants with their huge budgets and A-list stars. If someone comes up to my face and says The Dark Knight (in a traditional movie sense) is BETTER than The Wrestler, well I'm going to suplex them (hehe).
An interesting point to make is that Darren Aronofsky appears to have the Robocop remake (heart palpitates with sadness) in his future release credits. I'm hoping this is the usual case of IMDB incorrectly informing the public because I'd hate for a remake of an 80s Paul Verhoeven film to stain this guys career. One thing can easily be said - Aronofsky is NOT Verhoeven, they are two TOTALLY different directors and I don't even see Robocop as suitable material for Aronofsky to be directing. But hey, I'm just a bum � why are you even reading this?
The Wrestler explains the history of the main character, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke � who might I add was not paid a cent for this film and did pretty much all of his own stunts), in the opening credits. We are treated to old newspaper and magazine clippings of Randy's hugely successful WWF (yes, being an 80s career it is WWF-style career in professional wrestling filling the background of the opening credits while cheesey 80s hair metal plays to set the thrilling and fast back story pace. It's done to great effect and leaves you reminiscent of simpler times of the 80s in America. As soon as the credits end we are left with no music and a shot of Randy from behind, hunched over on a seat, gearing (not drugs gear, pads gear, although he has his share of the drugs too hehe) himself up for a match. The assumption is it's now around the time of 20 years later and Randy's looking much older and beaten down. The change room looks like a slum and the place he's wrestling at doesn't let the change room down at any point. He plays his small time professional wrestling show and is worshipped by the fans who remember him and is then paid the measly sum of money he can only seem to muster up nowadays. This whole time we haven't exactly seen Randy's face in full view and the camera has sort of followed over his shoulder as an avatar or as though we are him. Randy jumps into his jeep and drives to his Kid Rock standards trailer only to find he has been locked out and temporarily evicted. PS. Remember - this is a TRAILER, not a house or an apartment. Clearly, Randy has fallen on hard times, pissed and coked his money up the wall and is longer the star with a full wallet he once was.
He needs some money fast and agrees to play a hardcore match. Before hand we are treated to scenes of the money being spent on looking the part of a professional wrestler from the 80s when you are now in your late 40s. The guy is near broke but insists on spending money on bleaching his hair; getting his fake tan and naturally buying a barrel load of drugs because no matter how hard he works out gravity is a persistent mother fucker as age kicks in.
The time for the hardcore match comes around (PS. Hardcore match means almost anything goes, something that hurts is deemed a weapon; glass, barbed wire, ladders, chairs, tables, bats, bins, a fucking staple gun and the list is probably endless). Randy and his opponent both take an insane beating in a match which cannot be described with words but can only be seen. They take chunks out of each other and destroy each other in a way which comes across as funny, purely for the ridiculous nature of how insane this match is. The viewer recognizes Randy's bewilderment (who hasn't done this kind of match before) at just how ludicrous the pain they're inflicting on each other is.
Following the fight he receives huge applause from his peers backstage, has chunks of glass and other bits and pieces removed from his flesh and then gets up, takes a few steps and collapses from a heart attack.
Randy wakes up to a whole new way of life. He has been told if he wrestles again, not to mention mixing that with drug abuse, that he will have another heart attack and may not make it. This is a huge man who is used to lifting a lot of weight to stay in shape. But while his heart is recovering from bypass surgery, things like just going for a jog are too much for him. He spends days at a time cooped up in his trailer, becoming lonely and playing his old school Nintendo wrestling game (which he features in as a playable character) with one of the "trailer neighbourhood" kids. This is a truly remarkable scene showing a change of the times where the kid (who I�m assuming is about 10) asks Randy if he's played "Call of Duty 4" which is one of the latest video games out. Randy asks "Call of wha?" in which the kid goes into lengthy detail about which war it is and other technical details of not only killing the enemy but the reasons for it and other war type details. It's a real display of the total loss of innocence in children, although not taken quite as seriously as I saw it, a message was certainly there, represented by Randy's total loss of words at why this child would know or want to play such things. Here's Randy with his simple and fun wrestling game on a 20 year old Nintendo system (when computer games were made for light hearted colourful fun - not realistic simulations) and this kid, a 5th his lifespan, is discussing war simulation and weapons in detail.
Anyways, Randy has become lonely and needs support in this hard time he's having. He starts spending more time with his favourite stripper/SORT OF friend, Cassidy (Marissa Tomei). She knows she likes him and he certainly likes her but she has a closed off attitude and doesn't want to make things complicated. She insists on proclaiming that Randy is simply nothing more than a customer to her despite meeting up outside of the strip club on an occasion to buy his daughter (who no longer speaks to him) some clothes to make it up to her and try to reconcile. They get along well during this part and it's clear she is letting her guard down. But then at the last minute Cassidy closes herself off to him.
Randy's struggle with his daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), is a more predominant part in this movie than it appears. It's his last hope for a life outside of wrestling and he's got a lot of work to do. Under his rugged appearance Randy has the charm of a confused puppy and it eventually breaks through to Stephanie, who accepts his heartfelt confessional apology for not being their through her childhood and opens the doors to him again. They have a beautiful time bonding and it's simply smile inducing. They set a date for a dinner and a chat and then they're both on their way.
Randy scores himself a new position at his job at a supermarket, working in the service deli. It's a hilarious scene even just seeing him putting on his deli hairnet. He struggles at first but by the end loves the job at hand, coming up with nicknames for his customers and just generally beaming with joy at a job he didn't think he woulld like.
With this he tries for the finishing piece of his life, a partner. He approaches Cassidy at the strip club about being with him and naturally she brushes him off. It becomes quite bitter and it ends with an argument. To get over the feelings of negativity Randy goes on a crazy night out, drinks a shit load of booze, snorts a bunch of coke and fucks a chick with a fireman fetish. He wakes up (with fireman boots on (he he)) and goes home to crash.
Unfortunately Randy sleeps in and misses his dinner date with his daughter. He drives to her place to apologise and is told to never come back. Very dandy Randy, you might as well tick another one off the list.
With no potential partner and no more daughter, Randy falls back into the position of having the only thing that has never rejected him, professional wrestling. He re-enters a more profitable and larger scale comeback match between himself and an old nemesis, The Ayatollah (Ernest Miller). He re-dyes his hair, gets that groovy fake tan going again and sets off to the show.
Will his heart hold out during the match and is it really the future he wants. I refuse to say because as it stands I�ve already given too much of this emotional rollercoaster away!
Aronofsky has done a brilliant job bringing simplicity to the way this movie is filmed. There's no bullshit, just a well written story shot in the form of a documentary. Totally effective and most definitely not Aronofsky's traditional style. If this film had been shot with gloss it would have ruined the whole thing. The credits have some colour and style and gloss to sort of represent the bullshit fun times Randy had in the 80s. But then once we're into the story it's all real colours, real world style. Extremely effective and perfectly representetive of the story at hand.
Not enough can be said about the amazing performances in this movie. We have two once big time actors, who I had basically assumed we would not hear from again within the mainstream film industry. They prove that they are as on top of their game as ever and give could any A-lister a run for their money.
Marissa Tomei is absolutely amazing in this film and to be honest, I always thought the Oscar she won for My Cousin Vinny was a bunch of bullshit and she has never really impressed me before. So it says alot when I'm amazed by her performance. She has managed to wash away that annoyingly squeaky clean image as soon as she appears in the film, with a strip scene showing her boobies and all (although I hope her nipple piercings weren't real - they were a TOUCH skanky hehe). It helps that she's playing Cassidy, a stripper with a gorgeous body and looking amazing for her age to boot. But then she also shows up to meet Randy without make-up on and still looks naturally beautiful. Looks aside, she immerses herself in the character of Cassidy, who will simply do anything to raise her son comfortably. Her denial of Randy's love also adds another layer to her, showing a realistic example of insecurity handled with independence.
Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. A truly dedicated and punishing performance. His own life in some way representing Randy's, this character must have touched him truely. Apparently Nicolas Cage and Sylvester Stallone were both approached before Rourke to play Randy. Despite how much I respect Stallone with his recent movies Rambo and Rocky Balboa, he just couldn't have pulled off this character. I find the whole notion of Nicolas Cage being approached totally laughable and am quite releaved that didn't happen. I believe nobody else could have played this part. His face represents a man who has been through the high and the low times and came out a little beat up. He knows the pride of two men fighting in a ring with his one time successful boxing career. He also knows the performance side of wrestling from his one time (and possible once again) successful acting career. He wasn't paid a cent for the role, he did pretty much all his own stunts, learnt all the wrestling moves, he had to put on something like 30 pounds, get into top shape and all this while in his mid-50s. It's one of those performances you only hear about once in a while. I equal it to Deniro's effort in Raging Bull except Rourke is nearly double the age Deniro was at the time. There's not much I can say to justify his performance, so I'll sum it up by saying one of the best.
Respect to you Mickey Rourke. You earned your awards.
The Wrestler will take your breath away. You will leave thinking you have just watched real lives unfold. You may walk out of the film taking a bit of sadness with you, but something else will also stay with you - the fighting spirit.
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With a fake tan and bleached hair I give this amazing film:
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4.5 OUT OF 5 JAGER-BABIES. |
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