samples from Stone St.

The Wrestler

"The world don't give a shit about me."


***

For people looking for ‘Rocky 2009’ or ‘Rudy’ in the wrestling ring, ‘The Wrestler’ will most probably disappoint. Even long time fans of wrestling may see the film as more drama/less action…which would not be an overstatement…but Darren Aranofsky’s film is very well made, and superbly acted…and shows us one mans (and one womans) struggle to deal with getting old, and watching the best years of their lives get farther and farther away.

Staring faded star Mickey Rourke, in what many critics are calling his comeback film (he won and was nominated for virtually every major actor award this year…except the Oscars of course…), our ‘hero’ Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson is a 20 years past his prime professional wrestler, living in a trailer, and working to small community center crowds instead of the packed arena’s he used to fight in back in the 80’s. As much as Randy can’t let go of the past, and the call of the fans, he’s also helplessly unqualified for virtually any other career having spent the better part of his life in a wrestling ring…and is therefore trapped in this life. He works part time at a grocery store to make ends meet, resulting in his ego being ripped away in large chunks by his weasel of a boss, and a parade of fussy customers…only reinforcing this belief that there’s no place for him in ‘that’ world. He’s got no family, except a daughter who wants nothing to do with him. The only time his life doesn’t suck…is when he’s in the ring. And soon...he won't even have that...

There’s a line in the film that says it all about ‘The Ram’.

“The only place I get hurt is out there.”

‘The Wrestler’ could have easily been a story about a man getting out of prison, or about a washed up pro boxer/football player/track star…or Rourke himself...at its heart, it’s a tragic story of one man realizing his life has pretty much been lived, and he’s got absolutely nothing to show for it, except for die hard fans, some dusty memorabilia and photos, and all those memories. Mickey Rourke is very, very good…and having seen ‘Milk’, I’d have to say that he was much more compelling on screen than Sean Penn was…but those awards shows are just popularity contests anyway, and the fact is he got nominated (Rourke) and its probably just as well he didn’t win, cause his acceptance speech would have probably been something like one he gave at the Independent Spirit Awards a few months back. I thought it was cool that Penn gave Rourke a shout out when he won the Oscar though...classy. Also outstanding was Marisa Tomei, who plays Cassidy, an aging stripper who’s the apple of Randy’s eye…but doesn’t want to cross that line between customer and boyfriend…keeping Randy away with one arm, but pulling him closer with the other…if only because its what she’s always done (like Randy, Cassidy isn’t the characters ‘real’ name…she’s just playing a part…like Randy…but after 10-20 years, is it a ‘part’ or who they really are now). Suffice to say, Randy’s attraction, and connection to her is very strong. Tomei has aged very well, not only in terms of her looks...but her acting chops as well. She doesn't work a ton...but she's not just the pretty face that won for 'My Cousin Vinny'.

Good story, great acting, uniquely shot with a pseudo documentary style…not quite a ‘great’ film…but a very, very good one! I still can’t say I’m a ‘fan’ of Mickey Rourke…but sometimes an actor was born to play a part…and this time, it was Mickey's turn!




Mickey wins

shaky

"Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth." ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

home wrecked

I’ve always been fascinated with abandoned houses. Crumbling relics of families and communities past. Every town has them…and every one has a story. You look at them sitting there, all silent…neglected, crumbling…hidden away behind trees and unkempt roads…and you can see the beautiful, inviting home it once was through the grime and rotten wood. You imagine the lives lived inside, children playing, husbands arguing with wives, the glow of the TV cutting through the darkness outside. How did this home come to be…this? If I stand close enough its almost as if I can hear it trying to tell me its story…invisible home movies of a families I never knew begin dancing around my imagination. Oh those sweet ghosts…

The house, it knows its done for. Boarded up and forgotten, you’re the first visitor its had in ages…and maybe the last. Nobody comes ‘round here anymore! Take a good look…

And its not like these houses are ancient. Many were lived in and alive as recent as 5-10-15 years ago. It’s a sad spectacle really. Perfectly good houses…disappearing slowly into time…rotting away…for no good reason…

photo's by me