The Wrestler

What drove me to go watch Mickey Rourke's bulging muscles in The Wrestler? I will confess. Darren Aranofsky has made a couple of movies that I've - I won't say enjoyed because that would give the wrong idea - appreciated. Pi & Requiem for a dream. Emotionally exploiting as they may be, they appeal to the side in me that longs for the Apocalyptic. And then there's Mickey Rourke.

The Wrestler has been compared to Rocky and, sure, I see the connection there. But The Wrestler introduces a far more complicated perspective on the activity for which the protagonist has dedicated his life than does, I think, Rocky (OK so I haven't seen the last Rocky movie). Aranofsky does not mock wrestling. He doesn't sneer at the pretense, the rowdy crowd, the silly names. He describes. That's one of the things I liked about this movie. It describes how wrestlers cope with pretense, with silly tricks and bloated bodies. The Wrestler is not a Comeback movie in the sense of tough training & an against-all-odds reappearance of the Star.

In the 80's Randy "The Ram" was a star. But he's still in the business. The games don't actually pay the rent, but still. Then "The Ram" has a heart attack. He ends up at the deli counter at the store for which he has worked during some time anyway. This is the more interesting and sparkling aspect of the film. The gritty life "The Ram" is leading, how he tries to live up to the picture of action doll hero. A less successful part of the film is, in my opinion, "Ram's" nonprofessional relations. Of course, there's the somewhat stern stripper who's got a heart of gold (even though Aranofsky depicts the stripper world in a quite unromantic way) and the daughter who was left behind as "The Ram" pursued his wrestling career. It's not that these segments of the film are boring, but they verge on the sentimental and the clichéd. The scenes with "Ram" in his shitty car or in the dressing room going through wrestling tactics and logics are far more interesting & fun to watch.

So, not a bad film.