The Wrestler not only resuscitates Mickey Rourke’s career, it resuscitates the memory of what cinema is and can be.
From beginning to end, it’s pure motion and emotion.
Mickey Rourke’s presence/performance is raw, wounded and scarred; excruciating, heart sickening and unhinged; tender, sentimental and full of grace.
He’s Heath Ledger in
Monster’s Ball, Linda Manz in
Out of the Blue, Temuera Morrison in
Once Were Warriors, Gena Rowlands in
Under the Influence, Marlon Brando in
Last Tango in Paris, Sibel Kikelli and Birol Unel in Fatih Akin’s film
Head On.
The fight scenes alone are worth the ticket, but it’s the vulnerable masculine moments and gestures that make you go and see it twice in one week.
The way he dies a little everytime someone calls him Robin instead of Randy or Ram.
The long hair he flicks when it’s hanging down, or ties in a chignon with loose strands that follow his jaw line when its’ up.
The act of shaving under his arms and colouring his hair for the ring; then putting on a hair net to go out and work behind the meat counter.
The back-up present for his daughter in case she hates the one he really wants to give her.
The earpiece he removes and rests beside his bed when he sleeps; the glasses he needs when he looks closely at something important.
The little white socks and tighty whiteys in the tanning salon; the cute grey cotton gear for the gym.
The crease of his bare arse at the back of his hospital gown.
The bare-chested bear hugs for his brothers-in-arms from the ring.
The last look in the men’s room mirror before bracing himself to go out into the club and try and win over the woman he wants to be with.
The admission that he’s not ready for her to do another lap dance, because his heart’s not ready to take it.
I still can’t decide whether his dancing scenes are embarrassing because they’re good or because they’re really bad.
The ghost of Sam Fuller haunts every scene of this movie, with his declaration from Godard’s
Pierrot le Fou: ‘Film is a battleground. Love, hate, violence, action, death ... in a word, emotion.’
