Let It Bleed

Randy “The Ram” Robinson is a professional wrestler way past his prime, living in a trailer, estranged from his daughter and enamored with a local stripper. Oh and did I mention that he has a weak heart that could kill him if he ever enters the ring again? On paper The Wrestler should so not work. It reeks of 1,001 crappy films you’ve seen before – yet miraculously it soars right over the ropes.

Mickey Rourke’s performance as Randy is the perfect melding of actor and role. When Randy bluntly states that the “90s sucked” you are acutely aware that they also sucked for Rourke who in 1991 left Hollywood for the boxing ring. After five years of floundering, Rourke finally returned to acting only to find that a lot had changed. What was once beefcake had turned into a slab of beef. Rourke’s road back to the limelight has been long and hard and it shows in every frame. He bleeds both emotion and the red stuff. Combine this with Marissa Tomei’s stellar turn as past her prime stripper Cassidy, and you get a portrait of truly heartbreaking humanity.

With such stellar acting on display some directors might opt to stand back and just let things run on autopilot. Fortunately Darren Aronofsky is not that type of director. If it seems as though he has ditched all of the stylish flourishes he’s famous for in favor of a documentary approach you aren’t looking close enough. No documentarian could ever be this lucky. Whether it’s following behind Ram as he enters the ring or zeroing in on Cassidy as she has a personal revelation, the camera is always in precisely the right spot for maximum subjectivity. Aronofsky makes the intensely planned look effortless. He is the real deal and so is this film.