Review of The Wrestler (2008) by Tiberio S — 21 Jun 2011

Darren Aronofsky has finally culminated all of his pending talents into his best film thus far, breaking past those pretentious thinking-fests and into good old-fashioned, straight, in-your-face cinema.

This is an intense drama that narrowly sets its iris on Mickey Rourke's profoundly authentic performance of Randy "The Ram" Robinson. Finally, Aronofsky is making a film that doesn't try to be too clever.

He has completely eliminated his usual 'trying to be too artsy' style and instead is showing us something more like a documentary. Here he cares about capturing the intensity of dramatic performances, more like a theatrical director in the way Elia Kazan used to shoot his pictures.

Aronofsky makes great use of the consistent tracking-cam that shows us everything Ram sees in his daily life, detailing fine attributes to a depressing lifestyle. What makes this film somewhat of a downer is that in the end we realize it may be too simple, most especially for Aronofsky.

I in no way implore Aronofsky to throw us another "Pi" or "Requiem For A Dream" nightmare, but perhaps to find a little more content to 'wow' its audience would help. This is still a strongly recommended picture on my behalf and an impressive outing for all parties involved.