Movie Reviews
CineMovie.TV review:
The Wrestler is truly an original film with real characters that you can reach out and touch. You feel the pain of Mickey Rourke's Ram character with his distorted face and body, reminding the viewer that this has been, has lost all his former glory as a wrestler and is alone in the world.
Mickey Rourke's captured this character so well because he has lived the "has been" status in real life. After a promising start in Hollywood, his drug abuse and antics put him in a Britney Spears downturn and Hollywood stopped calling. He took up boxing and his face is a victim of the ring.
Marisa Tomei, too, bares it all literally as a middle-aged stripper, single mom and Ram's love interest. Tomei is a beautiful woman so you don't believe at first that pimpled-faced patrons reject her because of her age but once you see her ragged and lined face in better light, it becomes a reality. Like Ram, her aging status is worn on her face and body reminding her, she too, is in a profession she won't be able to maintain for long.
Shot dogma style, the viewer gets a sense of watching a reality show with real characters and settings but the difference comes with the subtle acting performances and Darren Aronofsky's great direction.
This is filmmaking at it's best and it's rawness is something that is truly lacking in the world of pumped up cinema. A must see.