The Wrestler

A bruised and beaten Mickey Rourke in full lumbering nice guy swagger mode is the main attraction in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. The film, penned by Robert Siegel, tells the story of a Hulk Hogan type down on his luck pro wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke), who was once a big star and is now a novelty item at regional shows who lives in a trailer park (when he can afford it) and makes his fun by playing as himself in an old Nintendo game with neighboring kids. His life is grueling and unsatisfying and it only gets worse from here. In an early scene, Randy's favorite dancer at the local strip club, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), makes an off-handed reference to The Passion of the Christ and the comparison sticks, in metaphoric terms. Randy is a good man who suffers mercilessly in the ring for the enjoyment and satisfaction of others. The film can be best read as a testimony to the sacrifice of an artist to his audience. Randy is put slowly and surely through trials and torment both inside and outside the ring and ultimately Aronofky's ambiguous ending suggests something dark and completely transformative: The Passion of the Hulk.

Following a particularly brutal match involving barbed wire and staple gun, Randy is forced to take a break from wrestling. At first he is terrified, but he grows to see it as a chance to try and get back to the real world. He takes extra shifts at the local grocery store and tries to reconnect with the daughter he abandoned years prior (Evan Rachel Wood). Cassidy, a kindred spirit also feeling the pressure of aging in a young person's field, agrees to see him outside the club. The two wounded souls both struggling to be "real" and rid themselves of their alternate stage named selves (his real name is Robin and hers Pam) form a connection that could possibly save both their lives. The question is whether or not either one can leave the jobs they have outgrown but do not know how to live without. Randy, in particular, seems unable to exist anywhere but inside the ring. He makes it clear that part of him would rather die than not wrestle.

The Wrestler is ultimately an all-American tragedy, raw and unsentimental and yet more strongly felt and pulsing with sincerity than most of the pompous prestige pieces you're likely to see this season. Rourke does not create a purely sympathetic character, but a scarred and damaged one who is frustratingly weak and yet overwhelmingly lovable. He is the best in us and the worst in us and to watch his journey is to grapple with quintessential human nature, particularly for those who happen to be old-fashioned and gentlemanly macho men. Tomei is also riveting in yet another scene stealing role as an earthy and assertive female. The actress, often overlooked and teased for winning an Oscar for a comedy not made by Woody Allen (a rare and admirable feat), is a natural beauty who refuses to succumb to doe-eyed ingenue character types. She fills Cassidy/Pam with as much strength, combustibility, and out and out balls as Rourke does Randy. It's about time people recognized her as the powerful and versatile performer that she have proven herself to be. Evan Rachel Wood is also back in top form after a string of forgettable indie flops and half-hearted attempts at commercial fame. She is brimming with pain and unobnoxious young angst in this film (the kind that made her an instant critic's darling in Thirteen). Put together you have a trio of performances so impassioned and authentic that Aronofsky's artful minimalism as a director pays off in spades. The film, often handheld and always gritty, plays like found footage packed with real emotion and a very real non-Hollywood pay off in the film's final moments. Truly one of the best endings to one of the best films of the year.

Grade: A