The Wrestler

The resurrection of Mickey Rourke
I've been a wrestling fan since the '70s and it's one of those things that I have to hide from most people because they think it's a joke or they just don't understand what it's appeal is. Then came along "The Wrestler" and now my friends are asking me questions and taking interest in "the business". I saw the movie with some friends and family and we had some very spirited discussions afterward. They couldn't believe that these guys would, for example, mutilate themselves to have blood in matches (a practice called "blading" that's performed with a small piece of a razor blade), or that years spent in the ring will leave most wrestlers battered and even disabled thanks to the legit wear and tear that wrestling has on the body. Most people assume a wrestling ring is a trampoline, but it's actually like landing on concrete and over time there's a price to pay for taking bumps on such a hard surface for so many years. "The Wrestler" reveals all of these issues wrapped up in an...

The fighter still remains
Impressed by Mickey Rourke's Golden Globe winning speech, I decided to go see this movie.

Randy 'The Ram' Robinson fought the Ayatollah in Madison Square Garden back in the 80s, and still battles today. Ill met by fate, bruised and battered, his sinewy muscles scarred, his bones creaking in protest he still has the fight, and like a One Trick Pony he sticks to what he knows. It's a desperate life.

As you may recall in Raging Bull, Robert De Niro put on about 40 pounds to play fighter Jake La Motta as he got older, and he won an Oscar for his dedication to the role.

Mickey Rourke does something no less astounding here, putting on huge bulk to assume the persona and convincing physique of a professional wrestler. It's the most amazing acting performance of the year. The lines between actor and character blur and disappear. The kind of pain you see on Randy's face cannot be pretended. It can only be relived from the actor's parallel experience, which...

A broken man searches for acceptance, dignity, and redemption, but finds himself instead
Growing up in the 80s, Mickey Rourke was James Dean to me. His part was too small for me to notice him in BODY HEAT. The critics had caught a glimpse of him and his potential in that film. I knew that I was on to something watching him as the fast talking womanizing Baltimore con-artist Boogie, in Levinson's DINER. His honesty as an actor pierced my emotions, even though he was playing a character that was lying throughout the entire film. When I witnessed his serene and suicidally introspective portrayal of The Motorcycle Boy in Coppola's urban dreamscape of S.E. Hinton's teenage angst novel RUMBLE FISH, I knew that I had just witnessed The Rebirth of James Dean. When I saw his cool slowburning streetwise Italian dreamer, Charlie in THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLIAGE, I knew I had found a film actor I could idolize. I wore my hair like him. I tried to dress like him. I wanted to be him. Man, this was the COOLEST actor taking the coolest parts in Hollywood! Mickey was IT!

But,...

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