Review of The Wrestler (1984) by Jh K — 14 Nov 2015

The most straight laced tale Aronofsky has created thus far, The Wrestler, sees a career revival in Mickey Rourke as Randy "The Ram" Robinson and also gets Aronofsky noticed by the academy. The Ram is an aged and washed up professional wrestler, his glory days long behind him, with only a cult following remaining.

When Randy suffers a stroke, he tries to reconnect with his family and start a new life with a stripper called Cassidy, but his life style and the ring's calling is too hard to ignore. It's a wonderfully simplistic tale, one that takes the much frowned upon topic of wrestling and showcases the hardships behind staying relevant, in a ravenous industry.

Much like Black Swan, The Wrestler is a dedicated character piece and much like Black Swan, Mickey Rourke hammers home his best performance, with a scarily resonate portrayal of his own career. Refusing to come across as your typical sports movie, The Wrestler, offers an upsetting insight into Randy's life, he struggles to keep regular payments on his rent, he cant perform without a vast array of drugs, his only form of connection is with an aging stripper, who ironically fights a similar battle.

It's not exactly uplifting stuff, however it offers a more bleak and desperate look into a world that is so often glamorized, by big budget film making, Rocky this is not. The cast all do a stupendous job, holding back and giving a more personal and human performance.

Rourke couldnt be better cast, Marissa Tomei is terrific as Cassidy and Evan Rachel Wood gives a brief but harrowing performance as Randy's daughter. Aronofsky also strips back his visual flair, making each movement and action raw and personal, the actual fight sequences have a huge weight behind them, shattering the illusion that wrestlers never harm each other.

It's a brilliant and stripped back movie, that does for indie films what The Matrix done for action films. There isnt much to be critical about, yes its not a big, flashy film with an everything will be okay attitude, but it offers a much more realistic look of a genre that has clearly reused its stereotypes.

A raw and powerful slice of cinema, that any stone hearted person would struggle to not be effected by.