I caught up with Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" the other day, a film criminally underrated during its run in the 2008 awards season. I had forgotten what a tour-de-force this film was for everyone involved. It was unlike anything Darren Aronofsky had done in his career thus far, proving he was capable of much more than the "triply drug movie director" people took him to be after Requiem For A Dream. The Wrestler is a much subtler piece of art; it's simply a character study about a past his prime wrestler played by Mickey Rourke.
Rourke's character, Randy "The Ram" Robinson isn't too far off from Rourke's own Hollywood persona. Before the film came out, many had Rourke pinned as a has-been, and a washed up actor who had his 15 minutes. In the film, just about everyone is ready to give up on The Ram. To say Rourke was simply "inspired casting" is underplaying the magic of The Wrestler, as the art truly reflected Rourke's life on the screen.
