The Wrestler
I love this movie. Love it. A+. I can scarcely think of another character I have rooted for more in my life. This movie makes me really feel for athletes - especially the violent sports like wrestling, boxing, hockey, and football.
The Wrestler got me thinking about freewill. Yes, we have brains that are capable of complex, intellectual choices. But do we really have a choice? Rourke's character is a bad parent. I have no sympathy for that. However, it seems like that man doesn't just make a choice to be a bad parent. He likely had a series of traumatic events and very bad parenting as a child that led to his choices. I'm not excusing his behavior. I'm just questioning the entire notion of freewill. To assume that he can just "do the right thing" isn't accurate.
I can't say one bad thing about The Wrestler. So far, Darren Aronofsky has made two of the best movies I've ever seen with The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream.
jdogg, I have to agree that the wrestler was my favorite movie of the year and I was all in Mickys corner as far as the best actor was concerned, but after I saw MILK I can understand how Penn won the award. Still love the Wrestler though as the best picture.
I'll be thinking about the movie for a long time. I believe it's the a perfect movie. I wouldn't change one single thing about The Wrestler - and that's a rarity.Looking forward to Milk.
Just got done watching The Wrestler. Great directing, great acting, but I couldn't get into it. Really couldn't get into his character or care about what happened to him. Maybe it was the ####ty parenting, maybe it was the wrestling that I outgrew 20 years ago, etc.. but I couldn't root for the guy at all. For a movie to work or get a 10/10 rating I usually have to really like or really hate a character and get into the movie enough for that. With "The Ram" I just ended up not caring one way or the other and for me the movie suffered for it.
Just watched it myself- very nice movie: obviously brilliantly acted by Rourke (although like the other poster, IMO Penn deservedly won the Oscar), the other two leads and amazing (I assume local) casting of everybody else. I really appreciate Aronofsky's restraint here- the grainy quality of the film and the use of emotionally tight shots paired with dramatically framed longer shots. And even with the restraint some astonishing visuals (I'm thinking of the fight with the hill-billy in particular). Appropriate score, although I'm not a fan of the genre it brought me right into the lives of the characters. One thing for me- I felt that the "heart-attack" plot device was cliched and lazy. I would have preferred to see the Ram have to deal with his life without his mortality so obviously hanging over his shoulder and driving all the action.
That said- my approach could easily slip into melodrama... and not so sure how the story could have been told succinctly within the timeframe of a movie. On the plus side, the plot device does make him face the reality of who he really is- deciding on the ring vs life. And in retrospect, I'm nitpicking more than anything- just remembering the moment the doctor made the announcement to the Ram made me
since it so obviously set up the rest of the movie. But it still played out incredbily well.