The Wrestler (***1/2)

This is, I suppose, the gritty, indie version of Rocky. Or Rocky V, perhaps. At any rate, it’s the story of an old-timer (Mickey Rourke) who’s seen the big time come and go, and now serves as a journeyman athlete-entertainer. Barely affording a North Jersey trailer home with income from a second job, he spends a good deal of of his non-working time preparing—pumping iron, dying his hair, doping, and acquiring props for use in the ring. Ex-boxer Rourke and director Darren Aronofsky beautifully depict this weekend warrior.

Aronofsky is known as the writer-director of such films as Pi and Requiem for a Dream. Here and in his forthcoming Robocop remake he works from someone else’s (here, Robert D. Siegel) script. This will likely seem a wise move if you’ve seen 2006’s muddled The Fountain, which confirmed Aronofsky as a better visual stylist than a writer. The story here isn’t fancy, and, surprisingly, neither is the camera work. The only time I really noticed the camera was in the beginning, when for at least five minutes it follows Rourke without showing his face.

Matching his character, Rourke’s is a face many won’t have seen for some time, although he has had supporting roles in some big movies like The Rainmaker and Sin City. Obviously we are to be shocked by the sight this powerful, muscular yet grizzled 50 year old, whose scars may come from Rourke’s days in the ring. Randy “The Ram” Robinson has lost (most of) his fame, all of his money, and his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), with only a stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold (Marisa Tomei) to turn to. If this sounds perilously close to cliché, that’s about right. It is Sunset Boulevard with an athlete, or Raging Bull without the rage, except that “the Ram” isn’t chasing past glory, only the next paycheck and chance to entertain the crowd. Aronofsky and Siegel stay on the good side of sentimentality by keeping things in the present. Except for an opening montage, we merely infer Ram’s history.

Rocky Balboa is a good comparison because there the appeal is much more based on watching the character behave than the plot. For most of The Wrestler, this is more than enough. Since they make more movies about boxing than pro wrestling, the background scenes are especially intriguing. I know absolutely nothing about the sport, but the easy camaraderie among the fighters, the casual drug use, and the way they informally plot out the way the fight will go (it seems to be assumed who will “win”) seem true. The brilliantly shot fight scenes depict how the matches are faked (or choreographed, perhaps) as well as the extremely real physicality the fighters bring. (In one scene that’s both humorous and horrifying, an upcoming opponent asks Ram if he minds having a staple gun used on him.) One gets an inside-out, athlete’s-eye view of the match.

In the end, the movie sort of paints itself into a corner; plot-wise, all options are clichéed or dull. And so it simply ends. But the Ram is among the least forgettable of characters in 2008 cinema, and, despite the somber tone, this is easily the most entertainment I’ve ever gotten out of pro wrestling.

IMDB link

viewed 1/12/09 at Ritz Bourse; reviewed 1/18/09

Nacho Libre (**3/4)

Jared and Jerusha Hess recapture some of the feel of their first film, Napoleon Dynamite, straddling the line between humor and oddness as they tell the tale of a Mexican monastery cook (Jack Black) who desires to wrestle and wrestles with his desire for a cute nun.

A vehicle for its curvaceous star, Jack Black, this odd comedy is also the husband-wife duo Jared and Jerusha Hess’s follow-up to the left-field hit Napoleon Dynamite. (Their writing collaborator, Mike White, also co-wrote Black’s hit School of Rock.) Without a doubt the best wrestling movie ever set at a Mexican Catholic orphanage, it features Black as a put-upon cook who yens for the ring. (The story was perhaps inspired by a Mexican wrestling priest, Fray Tormenta.) The feel of the movie is not unlike Napoleon Dynamite, and similarly straddles the line between funny and merely strange, just as the underdog Nacho character walks the line between heroic and pathetic. (He’s not exactly an instant success in the ring.) Much humor is supposed to come from Black’s accented pronunciation of phrases like “stretchy pants.” (Funny.) Then there are scenes like the one where Nacho and his wrestling partner train by, among other things, tossing a beehive. (Strange.) Did I mention that the potential romantic interest (Ana de la Reguera, who looks like Penélope Cruz’s prettier sister) is a nun? I don’t know who suggested the apparently obscure “Hombre Religioso,” recorded in 1975 by Mr. Loco, as a recurring motif in the movie, but the goofy/charming song fits right in with the Spanglish feel. Nacho Libre is like that. It’s not the best movie (and not as good as Napoleon), and if the whole scenario sounds dumb, I doubt watching it will convince you otherwise. But even its oddest moments feel organic, not studied, and it hangs together right to the end.

IMDb link

posted and rating revised 8/15/13