mickey rourke - tick
blood - tick
really nice hand-held camera work - tick
some rockin' 80's music - tick
yes indeed, the wrestler was just the movie six red-blooded blokes needed to get ourselves down to on tight-arse-tuesday - and the cinema was packed!
please note - a date film this is not.
the big question this flick asked us all was, at the end of the day, what would you rather have?
- no passion, but a humdrum life of saturday night dinners with your over-emotional lesbian daughter and playing happy families with a worn-out stripper, or
- the roar of the crowds everytime you walk out - RAM, RAM, RAM, RAM, RAM, RAM...
when i paint it that way, it's not that hard to choose.
but the director Darren Aronofsky doesn't make it that easy for us. one amazing scene, we share in the exhilaration of the crowd as the Ram walks out of the ring victorious. the next thing we see, however, is the pain, the staple-gun injuries, the barbed-wire tears, the chunks of broken glass that ain't gonna come out easy - and we think - why? what for? what is the point of it all? just give it up - you might actually enjoy the warmth of family, the assuredness of knowing you have a regular income so you don't get locked out of your trailer by your landlord.
is it a question of degrees of highs? do you want the heights of ecstasy (with its accompanying lows), or a mid-range life? if you want the latter - go see Revolutionary Road. maybe Rourke did - that's why he is the wrestler.
i found this movie hard, but good. good, because i didn't want to see just any old film. (i don't know if any has ever hired Mighty Ducks out since they saw it on TV in the 90's.) because we all want to feel; sometimes it's nice to go thru the wringer of emotions - the 'cut yourself to see if your heart's still pumping' idea.
but at the end of the day, i still have to ask - what was his life for? what did he fight for? was the price he paid worth it?
what do you live for, fight for, strive for, sacrifice even your own body for? do you run 'the' good race, is whatever your life is being sacrificed for (poured out as a drink offering) what you want it to be spent upon? are you pursuing fleeting pleasures - living it up now - but haven't given the rest of your years - let alone eternity - a thought for some time?
don't waste your life.
ps a good chunk of this flick is in a strip-bar. you may wanna take that into consideration. find a spot, or something. forewarned and all that.
6 comments:
I have to admit I've read lots of superlative reviews of this movie and am intrigued by all the on-screen/off-screen 'redemption' and 'resurrection' language, but I just don't think I have the energy to actually watch it!
find a spot, or something?
don't be like that - it's a good film. i think you guys'd enjoy it 4 sure.
i think the redemption/resurrection language isn't so pertinent - i saw them in this preview after the movie and thought them completely irrelevant (arbitrary even). if anything (without wanting to be a spoiler), it's Romans-1-esque, with a dead man walking - maybe he's alive? - nup. still dead. maybe if you call different things life to me it's about resurrection (but that would mean the 3-day period refers to him connecting in a real, honest, meaningful way with real people). arbitrary words to sell a product. not the movie. but still good.
find a spot, or something? to look at, during the gratuitous pole-dancing sequences. unless you too want to join in the experience of being in the strip club.
Gotcha on both points.
Heard this was a fairly depressing (in the soul-crushing sense) movie. Not surprising for the guy who directed Pi, Requiem for a dream et al. Wonder where Aronofsky will go with Robocop (due for release next year)!
Finally watched the Wrestler, Doug. Review on the blog. Thanks for the recommendation mate!
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