The Wrestler

I never thought that I would type these words: I wanted Mickey Rourke to win the Oscar. After years of slumming his quirky and strange talent in B-movies and straight-to-DVD trash, he has returned in a big way. He looks like hell, he sounds like hell, and he's lovable for being so simplistic. Yet he is handicapped emotionally, and, should he continue to wrestle, physically. It is not quite the autobiographical film that everyone claims it is, although that is there, but a complicated, moving and depressing portrait of someone who time passed by. It is not entirely a one-man show since Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood have big emotional impacts, despite very limited screen time. Wood only has two scenes, but they are both emotionally devastating for very different reasons. The first is during Randy's hopeless bid to reconnect with his daughter, she seems receptive to it. They talk about the past, her general uneasiness about his latest promise, his tears to show that he is genuine. They agree to meet for dinner and begin to rebuild. He fails to show up after partying too hard. She is let down once more and casts him out of her house, and life forever. Tomei, bravely bearing all in her mid-forties and looking damn fine still, plays the stripper, who functions as the female equivalent to Randy. Time has passed her by, she is in a career that is more artifice then reality, and, at times, she seems to forget which is which. Their scenes are humorous, sad, touching and complicated.

Darren Aronofsky is very easily the next contender for auteur director of his generation. His aesthetic shows the pain in life. Violence is in escapable in this film, for obvious reasons. But it's the emotionally damaging scenes which hit harder. But Aronofsky is also adapt at showcasing the quieter moments. The horrifying reunion of former wrestlers, an assemblage of Frankenstein's monsters rejects complete with medical devices and steroid caused misshapen bodies, shows the eventually horrors to come. But it is not played for shock or for laughs. Randy is looking around and begins to notice that his fate will be theirs if he doesn't stop soon. Or the scenes where the wrestlers gather backstage, listen to the roster, go over what is plausible in the fight and what is not, and practice certain moves. There's a strange balletic movement to all of this, and it is endlessly fascinating.

This was easily one of the greatest films of the past year, and it's a shame it didn't get as much recognition as it deserved. But it is not the underdog-conquers-all storyline that some think it is. I have a feeling that while Randy wins the rematch, he won't be basking in glory for much longer. Rocky this is not.