I'd heard way too often that Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler was a pretty good film, which is the perfect way to ruin a film with high expectations. For example, Joe and I started watching Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh's latest, which we’d also heard was a good film. After ½ an hour, we decided not to continue. We found ourselves rather annoyed by the main characters, especially Sally Hawkins with her continuous cackle. Same as with the whimsical music that kept popping in. I may return to it, however, as I’ve heard that the beginning of the film is a bit of a misstep for Leigh, and I'm a fan of his earlier works.
The Wrestler, in spite of all my preconceptions, surprised me. It struck a good balance between gritty realism and Hollywood storytelling. It seemed heartfelt, and its excellent script was not too maudlin when it had so many opportunities to be. Mickey Rourke is great as an excellent ex-wrestler trying to make a come-back after a heart attack takes him out of commission. And we get a peek into behind the scenes of the world of professional wrestling, which seems way stranger than anything I could dream up, like stapling one's opponent with real staples. Whoa! Director Darren Aronofsky seems to be back on track after his strange and fantastical flop, The Fountain.
We actually hadn't seen The Fountain prior to seeing The Wrestler – well, not more than twenty minutes before giving up on it – but we were so impressed with Aronofsky’s latest that we thought we'd give it another shot. I can't say I regret doing so, if only because I haven't seen anything so outlandish in quite some time, but it was really, really, really, um, strange. Not in a good way. New-Agey and sentimental and poorly acted. I'm glad that The Wrestler followed, because I might have written Aronofsky off, otherwise.
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