The Wrestler

Oh my god. Oh my god.

I fucking loved this movie.

I was excited to see it - mostly because of Mickey Rourke (I really loved him in Sin City) and Marisa Tomei (holy shit, do I think she's hot) and the director, Darren Aronofsky (nobody really liked The Fountain, but I did! Assholes. And Requiem for a Dream is a fantastic movie).

I didn't really know the premise of the movie (except for that it was about some sort of aged wrestler), and I didn't really have any expectations. That always seems to work out in my favor.

I honestly think that this movie was as close to perfect as a movie could be. The last time I felt that way about a movie was when I saw No Country for Old Men, which was (and still is) amazing.

The way that the movie was shot was great: this time, a hand-cam worked out in regards to the cinematography, because it subtly reflected (without being too heavy-handed) the instability of Randy "The Ram's" life; the colors were faded and consistent (outside of the bright colors of the ring) and the film looked gritty, which again subtly reflected major themes of the film.

The acting was pitch perfect. Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei conveyed so much, both about their characters and about the relationship with each other, with oftentimes minimal dialogue. Rourke, especially, conveyed so much about his character and his feelings through his face and his body language (primarily through his face), which was perfect for his character. The characters were complex, and I was invested and felt for each one, and genuinely liked Micky Rourke's character and Marisa Tomei's. It was pretty much the opposite of Revolutionary Road in that regard, even though I think the two films do share a lot of similar themes.

The dialogue was real, and oftentimes funny - well, I always find myself laughing at things that no one else in the audience is laughing at, but there was a deli counter scene that was particularly funny and light-hearted, and if you can't laugh at that, you should probably just kill yourself.

The movie was also suspenseful (well, that doesn't seem like the right word - but it definitely had some moments where I wasn't sure what was going to happen), and there was surprisingly a lot of scenes that were hard to watch and stomach. But that shouldn't deter anyone from wanting to see the movie - I definitely want to see it again.

And for anyone who likes wrestling, I would imagine that this movie would be fantastic. I have never, nor will I ever, even remotely care about wrestling. But it was neat to see a movie that is about a sport that is, in many ways, staged, bringing about ideas of authenticity and movie-making and such.

I really hope Mickey Rourke wins the Oscar for Best Actor. Sean Penn will probably win it for Milk, because he is a piece of shit and I hate him. I haven't seen Milk, but I want to, and I think that it will probably be an Oscar favorite this year. Oh, the gays.

The end credits, with Bruce Springsteen's song, "One Trick Pony," was also a perfect song for the ending of the film. And that's coming from someone who hates Bruce Springsteen. But I do like that song, quite a bit.

QUITE A BIT.

Marisa Tomei should win for her role as well for Best Supporting Actress. She really did an amazing job.

And.

Have I mentioned her hotness?


Go see this movie, seriously.