The Wrestler (2008)

dir. Darren Aronofsky
writ. Peter D. Siegel
feat. Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

More than just the perfect combination of player and part that has been much raved about for the The Wrestler, is the timing of the release of this film about a man at the end of his rope. The formula isn't new but the delivery is so precisely on target, the terrain so familiar, and the pain so physical and real that it cooks down to something irresistible.

Randy's energy and resilience carry the picture, particularly his resistance to self-pity, never more evident than during his first day on the job at the deli counter. We know what to expect, having seen this before, primed to watch our hero suffer insults from disrespectful customers, reducing him to a blue collar prisoner or, more likely, provoking him to violence. But not this time. Instead, Randy charms the customers, cheerily serving them as he makes a few bucks to keep his life on track.

It is this kind of playful reality that breathes life into an otherwise typical tale. Randy's games of Nintendo with neighboring kids and jokes about 80s metal with stripper, Cassidy (Tomei) charm us just like those deli patrons, warming us up to the brutality of his wrestling life and earning our sympathy, not pity, for his difficult life.

And while Cassidy's believably rough life never quite mirrors Randy's as the filmmakers seem to hope for, and Randy's daughter, Stephanie (Wood), isn't convincing as either a family member or a fully functioning human, Randy brings enough life (and pain) to soothe over these faults, emerging victorious.