Monday, December 8, 2008

The Wrestler

The Wrestler (2009)

- Director: Darren Aronofsky
- Year: 2009
- Character: Stephanie Robinson
- Cast: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis, Todd Barry, Wass Stevens, Judah Friedlander, Ernest Miller, Dylan Keith Summers, Tommy Farra, Mike Miller, Marcia Jean Kurtz, John D'Leo, Ajay Naidu, Gregg Bello.
- Awards: Golden Lion.

Billed as Mickey Rourke's big comeback, this film is the finale presentation of the New York Film Festival 2008. Awarded in Venice and shown at Toronto, it features a winning performance by Rourke. It's a simple story, a mixture of raw authenticity and old fashioned corn about a washed up professional wrestler who's 20 years past his prime and resists admitting it till he has a heart attack and is forced t turn to the only two people he has in his life, a lap dancer and an estranged daughter. It's pretty monochromatic and claustrophobic, but the tiny framework shows off Rourke's generous, authoritative performance. Rourke's weathered, soulful face and sweet-sad smile sell the movie.
Early scenes establish that Randy 'The Ram' Robinson (Rourke), who has long graying bleach-blond hair and wears a hearing aid, still has fans from his heyday in the 80's and warm contacts in the pro wrestler community of today, who give him work on weekends. He's well liked (kids in his neighborhood clamor around him), and takes life's hard knocks with patience--and that smile.
But all is not well. The first night we see him after a fight locked out of his trailer because he owes the manager money. He lives alone, has a shaky relationship with a lap dancer, work name Cassidy (Marisa Tomei). His lesbian daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), who's in school, despises him for not being there when he was needed. We're in the world of numbed pain and charred, sealed-away emotions here.
The second evening of fights pits the Ram against an S/M wrestler who uses a staple gun on him, and broken glass, and barbed wire. Ram collapses after this fight and wakes up in intensive care after a bypass operation. The hospital is the real beginning of the film, though Rourke and the filmmakers are over-committed to the wrestling scene, and stage more painful and realistic bouts, in which all the fighters other than Rourke were professionals.
Ram realizes he's not the man he was. The doctor has told him he can't wrestle any more. He tries to jog and can't. Helpless and alone, he turns to Cassidy (whose real name is Pam), but she is reluctant to admit he's more than a customer. He visits his daughter, but she is extremely hostile. In just a couple scenes, Evan Rachel Wood is raw and powerful.

Tomei is authentic too, having mastered the lap-dancing technique and assimilated its world's mix of sensuality and distance. Rourke/Ram's encounters with both women are painful and memorable.
There's a good sense of context, even though Ram's world as shown is narrow. "The 90's f----ing sucked!" he exclaims to Cassidy when he finally coaxes her into having a beer with him outside the club. He hates that bastard Kurt Cobain. Axel Rose was The Man. You realize she's as washed up as he is. She has a 9-year-old kid and wants to quit and somehow get into a condo.
The screenplay by Roy Siegel, an original editor of The Onion, has lightness and humor to undercut the melodrama and doom. Ram is a laugh when, after the heart attack, he starts working longer hours at the Jersey Dollar's deli counter, doling out potato salad and ham, joking with the man and flattering the women.
Finally after he is pushed away by Cassidy/Pam, on a bad day at the deli, Ram flashily quits and calls a promoter and countermands his resignations, saying the re-match with "The Ayatollah" is on again. The Aronofsky of 'Requiem for a Dream' set a record for determinism, and it's hard not to see this Wrestler as doomed. But the filmmakers' and and cast's involvement in the milieu and Rourke's humility and charm undercut that enough so the final sequence is uncertain and interesting. And all the fights are good.
The title 'The Wrestler' can be generic because unlike boxing films, wrestling ones are rare, indeed nonexistent. Rourke himself is a boxer; the switchover wasn't easy, but he had the athletic background, and not only that, the has-been life of his character, a washed-up star in an activity looked down on by all but rabid fans. Few think of it even as a sport, though it requires conditioning and skill and involves constant injuries. In the NYFF Q&A Rourke conveyed a sense of his respect for this activity as a sport, and Aronofsky reported that his work on the mat won the approval of the pros. If this is an iconic performance as some are saying, it's not just Rourke's personal identification with the character's comeback mode, but good hard technical work to make it all authentic.





__

- Director: Darren Aronofsky
- Año: 2009
- Evan iterpreta a: Stephanie Robinson
- Reparto: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis, Todd Barry, Wass Stevens, Judah Friedlander, Ernest Miller, Dylan Keith Summers, Tommy Farra, Mike Miller, Marcia Jean Kurtz, John D'Leo, Ajay Naidu, Gregg Bello.
- Premios: Golden Lion.

Este es el gran regreso de Mickey Rourke, esta película es el final de la presentación del New York Film Festival de 2008. Premiado en Venecia y muestra en Toronto, en el que Rourke ha renacido. Es una simple historia, una mezcla de las materias primas, la autenticidad y la historia de un luchador profesional que 20 años atrás era la gran estrella y se resiste a admitir que ha tenido un ataque al corazón y no está obligado a su vez a luchar. Solo tiene dos personas en su vida, una hija y una novia bailarina. Rourke es el degradado, pero a la vez nos hará sacar alguna sonrisa.
Randy 'The Ram' Robinson (Rourke) todavía tiene fans de su apogeo de los años 80 y conserva buenos contactos. Es su trabajo de los fines de semana. Él así, se siente admirado, los niños en su vecindario lo adoran, y toma la vida a golpes y con paciencia.
Pero no es todo bonito en el fil. La primera noche lo vemos después de una lucha contra el cierre de su remolque, ya que el gerente debe dinero. Vive solo, tiene una inestable relación con una bailarina, (Marisa Tomei). Su hija lesbiana Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), que en la escuela, le desprecia por no estar ahí cuando era necesario. Estamos en el mundo del dolor.
La segunda noche de peleas en contra de Ram un S / M luchador que utiliza una pistola de grapas en él, y vidrios rotos, y alambre de púas. Ram se derrumba después de esta lucha y despierta en cuidados intensivos después de una operación de bypass. El hospital es el verdadero comienzo de la película, aunque Rourke y los cineastas están excesivamente comprometidos con la escena de lucha, y la etapa más dolorosa y realista , en el que todos los combatientes que no sean Rourke eran profesionales.
Ram se da cuenta de que no es el hombre que fue. El médico le ha dicho que no puede luchar más. Trata de moverse y no puede. Indefenso y solo, visita a su hija, pero ella es extremadamente hostil. En sólo un par de escenas, Evan Rachel Wood es cruda y potente. Tomei es demasiado auténtica, después de haber dominado el baile y asimilados este mundo su mezcla de sensualidad y de distancia. Los encuentros de Rourke con las mujeres son dolorosos y memorables.
Hay un buen sentido del contexto, aunque el mundo de Ram, como se muestra es limitado. Odia que el bastardo Kurt Cobain y Axel Rose fuesen unos ''héroes''. Ella tiene un niño de 9 años de edad, hijo y quiere dejar de fumar.
El guión de Siegel Roy, un original editor, tiene ligereza y humor para socavar el melodrama y el castigo. Ram es una risa cuando, después de tener el ataque al corazón, y desde entonces empieza a trabajar más horas repartiendo ensalada de patatas y jamón, bromeando con el hombre y la mujer halagador.
El título "The Wrestler" puede ser genérico porque, a diferencia de las películas de boxeo, lucha libre son raros, de hecho inexistente. Rourke sí mismo es un boxeador, la conversión no fue fácil, pero tenía el atletismo de fondo, y no sólo eso, el ha sido-la vida de su personaje, un lavado de estrellas en una actividad que espera por todos los fanáticos rabiosos, pero . Pocos piensan de la misma, incluso como un deporte, aunque se requiere habilidad acondicionado y supone una constante y las lesiones. En el NYFF Q & A Rourke transmitió un sentido de su respeto por esta actividad como un deporte, y Aronofsky informó de que su trabajo en el tatami ganó la aprobación de los pros. Si esto es un icono de rendimiento, ya que algunos están diciendo, no es sólo Rourke de la identificación personal con el carácter del modo de regreso, pero la buena labor técnica difícil.


The Wrestler ha sido nominada a los globos de oro/ The Wrestler has been nominated for golden globes.

- Actor, Drama: Mickey Rourke
- Actress in a Supporting Role: Marisa Tomei
- Original Song: "The Wrestler," music & lyrics by Bruce Springsteen

La ceremonia se celebrará el 11 de enero en Los Angeles/
The ceremony will be in January 11th, in LA.

No comments:

Post a Comment