The Wrestler - A Review

THE WRESTLER may not seem like a new story. In fact it covers a lot of what we might think is familiar ground. The has-been looking for redemption, the stripper with a heart of gold and the disgruntled daughter are hardly new fodder for film. But the lack of showcase shots and the earnest, committed and infinitely understated performances - particularly by Rourke whose performance is a master class in completely inhabiting a character for the characters sake, rather than the actor's acclaim and consequently is sooooo rightly acclaimed - succeed in making us understand the complexity and ubiquity of the formulas on which they are based. While the has been athlete has a legendary treatment in Raging Bull - the wrestler succeeds not in evoking that precendent, but in unexpectedly mining the flaws and crippling failure that follows any and every man who has invested all of his self-worth in his work, no matter how spectacular or mundane the profession may be. At first, I wanted to take issue with the screenwriter for falling into formula, but as the movie settled in, it became ever so clear that the banality and brutality of the context of minor league professional wrestling gives us opportunity to refresh the formula and recapture it's emotional power. Note, that much like Darren Arronofsky's previous work, particularly REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, there are moments in the film that are not at all for the faint of heart. The brutal toll these men take for entertainments sake, no matter how "fake" the outcomes of matches are - is shocking. Arronofsky's direction is stunning, mainly because it's it's simple. PI and REQUIEM (two films close to my heart) make clear the showy cinematic wonders of which his camera is capable, but rightly and generously he foregos all of them to achieve the timeless mandate of a film director, which is to show you want you need to see, in precisely the way you need to see it. It's masterful - much like Rourke's performance - because it doesn't appear to be or announce that it is. It's dramatic and profound because he revels in precisely the moments that filmmakers have been cutting out of movies since their birth. A swig of beer, a silly thank you card, a a scoop of potato salad, a brief and somewhat awkward kiss...these are the tentpoles of life. Arronofsky honors our lives and his audience by lingering on them and leaving so many questions unanswered. Just like life.