Hal and I went to see The Wrestler last night. It has received good reviews, but after seeing Grand Torino, decent reviews lost any cachet they ever had with me.
In the case of The Wrestler, the good reviews are totally justified, as are the raves for Mickey Rourke's performance. This is a well done, gritty movie without the cliches and the maudliness (maudlinity?) of Grand Torino. Most of it seems to be shot with hand held cameras which only add to the grainy, almost dirty feel of the film. This is a movie about a loser who tries to redeem himself by going "straight" with a dead-end job and trying to rekindle a lost relationship with his daughter, and trying to have a real relationship with a woman (a stripper brilliantly played by Marisa Tomei). But ultimately he can't escape the allure of the ring even though he's long past his prime.
This is a very good movie on par with Milk, and Mickey Rourke's performance is on par with that of Sean Pean. It'll be a close race to see who gets the Oscar.
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