Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Wrestler

I saw Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler last night, and loved it. Very well acted, and each character was believable and well developed. Though this sounds banal, the director imbues his characters with a profound sense of humanity, particularly the protagonist, Randy "the Ram" Ramzinski. We aren't told how he got to be in his current state at the film's opening, but the man's life is pitiful. His body is wracked from years of being slammed on the mat, he has a hearing aid on his left ear, and a serious heart problem from years of steroid use. There are several scenes of him making calls on a pay phone, visiting a strip club to see Cassidy, the woman that he loves and closest thing that he has to family, and several heartbreaking encounters with his estranged daughter. I left the theatre feeling pretty somber, but it was an amazing film. I initially avoided it, as I'm not interested in professional wrestling at all, but it's a visceral, very human story, rather than a mere sports narrative.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jake saw this and loved it; he's been trying to get me to see it for a while but I just don't think I can. I'm going to see Milk tonight though, so I'll let you know how that goes.

How did the show go yesterday morning? I wasn't awake or I would have listened to it!

diandra said...

This movie is FANTASTIC

Lukas said...

yeah, let me know how that goes! and you should really go see this.
I have one more training shift to do before I can start on my own, so I have a 2-4 PM this tuesday, and then this saturday i start my 6-10 am shift! pretty excited!

Anonymous said...

Milk was wonderful! You really need to see it. My mom and Brittany went with me, and we all loved it. Really, seriously, put it on your to-do list.

This is so exciting! Do you get to use a cool name, like "Werewolf Luke" or something? I think you should.