Film review: The Wrestler
I admit it, I normally don't tear up from a movie. It's just not my style, and I watch them in a much different way than most humans.
But to take the old saying "There's a first time for everything", I actually got a little tear out of this one, and it stayed all movie.
Never have I've seen a character with more layers than Randy "The Ram" Robinson. A man with so many admirers and people that love him, yet never has a man been more alone. A man who is tougher than most mortal men, yet never has a man been weaker. A man anyone could have a beer with anyone, yet a man who doesn't even know his own daughter. So many strengths, so many flaws, and Darren Aronofsky does a supreme job exposing all those layers.
Randy(real name Robin Ramzinski), is on the down end of a legendary wrestling career. He is accustomed to 60,000 person crowds, and all the accolades of a star. Now, he is broke, addicted to drugs, and living between his beat up van, and an even more beat up trailer that he can barely pay rent for day after day. His life seesaws between low paying independent shows that use his fading star to add to a miniscule crowd, and a job with a grocery store where his boss treats him like low rent trash. His home is the locker room, where younger wrestlers looking for the name Randy once had, treat him like a demigod. They feel like they are in the presence of royalty, and they never even consider that he's in the same crummy locker room(or kindergarten classroom, or closet, depending on the night) as they are. Such is the life of indy wrestling(this truly does have a personal feel to me, but that's another blog).
Once he's away from his domain, there's really nothing to go back to whatsoever. His trailer is locked because he hasn't paid rent, and he is forced to sleep in his van. He does have the aformentioned job, but lack of hours, lack of respect, and his drug addiction does not allow him to pay rent. He tries to make friends with a neighbor kid by playing an old Nintendo game with his likeness, but the kid looks incredibly bored and does it to appease him, and is obviously more interested in the now than the past. Randy seeks refuge at a local strip club, where he meets an aging stripper, played brilliantly by Marisa Tomei, trying to make her way also. The chemistry between the two is off the charts, and you really believe they are two lost souls trying to make it in a tough world. They start to hit it off, and she convinces him to contact the daughter that despises him.
In the mat world, Randy's health is starting to fail. It all culminates in a brutal hardcore match where he has a heart attack when it's all over. The scene is especially rough because you see that there is absolutely no one to visit him when he is near death, not even the wrestlers that found him in the locker room. This shows the loneliness of his life, and the feeling that his whole being is used for others' entertainment, and there's no one that truly cares for him. After his heart attack, Randy decides to take Cassidy's advice(the stripper) and goes to visit his daughter(played by Evan Rachel Wood, who is a tremendous actress). Problem is, she wants nothing to do with him, and is very skeptical of him.
Randy decides to retire from the ring and have a "normal life". He works part time at the grocery store, this time with customers, and decides to try to have a relationship with his daughter, who is still skeptical. He screws things up, once again, when he goes on a drug binge one night, and passes out, missing his dinner date with his daughter. She wants nothing to do with him ever again, and it puts him in a deep depression. He decides that the same fans and wrestlers that have used him all those years are his only family, and decides to wrestle, despite his health problems.
This movie is absolutely brilliant. It brings out a character who is perpetually naive about everything around him, and everyone around him. He is incredibly torn with the idea that the same people always using him could be the only ones that care. You do feel like he's laid back and cool to deal with, but you also feel sorry for him in every way whatsoever. I know the subject of wrestling is taboo for people, but this sucker deserved to do more than break even at the box office. One of the most brilliant movies I have ever seen.
But to take the old saying "There's a first time for everything", I actually got a little tear out of this one, and it stayed all movie.
Never have I've seen a character with more layers than Randy "The Ram" Robinson. A man with so many admirers and people that love him, yet never has a man been more alone. A man who is tougher than most mortal men, yet never has a man been weaker. A man anyone could have a beer with anyone, yet a man who doesn't even know his own daughter. So many strengths, so many flaws, and Darren Aronofsky does a supreme job exposing all those layers.
Randy(real name Robin Ramzinski), is on the down end of a legendary wrestling career. He is accustomed to 60,000 person crowds, and all the accolades of a star. Now, he is broke, addicted to drugs, and living between his beat up van, and an even more beat up trailer that he can barely pay rent for day after day. His life seesaws between low paying independent shows that use his fading star to add to a miniscule crowd, and a job with a grocery store where his boss treats him like low rent trash. His home is the locker room, where younger wrestlers looking for the name Randy once had, treat him like a demigod. They feel like they are in the presence of royalty, and they never even consider that he's in the same crummy locker room(or kindergarten classroom, or closet, depending on the night) as they are. Such is the life of indy wrestling(this truly does have a personal feel to me, but that's another blog).
Once he's away from his domain, there's really nothing to go back to whatsoever. His trailer is locked because he hasn't paid rent, and he is forced to sleep in his van. He does have the aformentioned job, but lack of hours, lack of respect, and his drug addiction does not allow him to pay rent. He tries to make friends with a neighbor kid by playing an old Nintendo game with his likeness, but the kid looks incredibly bored and does it to appease him, and is obviously more interested in the now than the past. Randy seeks refuge at a local strip club, where he meets an aging stripper, played brilliantly by Marisa Tomei, trying to make her way also. The chemistry between the two is off the charts, and you really believe they are two lost souls trying to make it in a tough world. They start to hit it off, and she convinces him to contact the daughter that despises him.
In the mat world, Randy's health is starting to fail. It all culminates in a brutal hardcore match where he has a heart attack when it's all over. The scene is especially rough because you see that there is absolutely no one to visit him when he is near death, not even the wrestlers that found him in the locker room. This shows the loneliness of his life, and the feeling that his whole being is used for others' entertainment, and there's no one that truly cares for him. After his heart attack, Randy decides to take Cassidy's advice(the stripper) and goes to visit his daughter(played by Evan Rachel Wood, who is a tremendous actress). Problem is, she wants nothing to do with him, and is very skeptical of him.
Randy decides to retire from the ring and have a "normal life". He works part time at the grocery store, this time with customers, and decides to try to have a relationship with his daughter, who is still skeptical. He screws things up, once again, when he goes on a drug binge one night, and passes out, missing his dinner date with his daughter. She wants nothing to do with him ever again, and it puts him in a deep depression. He decides that the same fans and wrestlers that have used him all those years are his only family, and decides to wrestle, despite his health problems.
This movie is absolutely brilliant. It brings out a character who is perpetually naive about everything around him, and everyone around him. He is incredibly torn with the idea that the same people always using him could be the only ones that care. You do feel like he's laid back and cool to deal with, but you also feel sorry for him in every way whatsoever. I know the subject of wrestling is taboo for people, but this sucker deserved to do more than break even at the box office. One of the most brilliant movies I have ever seen.
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