The Wrestler

I went to see The Wrestler with David on Tuesday night. It was pretty excellent.

David informed us in the afternoon that it was Mickey Rourke's comeback film. Too which a few of us nodded knowingly, till none of us could remember what Mickey is coming back from. His past achievements totally evaded our memories (except for John who told us that Mickey was in 9 1/2 Weeks, but none of us had seen it). It turns out that Mickey really hasn't done a whole lot of remarkable stuff. At least not that I can tell. Except for the The Wrestler which was totally remarkable. He was amazing.

The film is about an old wrestler, long past his heyday. His life sucks and the only thing which makes him feel whole wrestling.

The movie is full of good performances. The script is wonderful, and the directing is special.

Bruce Springsteen does the closing song which is wonderful. It should have been nominated for Best Song.

To appreciate the film you don't really have to love wrestling. But it does get rather brutal for at least one chunk of the film. Lots of pain and blood.

This film should really have been nominated for Best Picture. I liked it more than Slumdog (even though that was great), I'm trying to decide if it's better than Frost/Nixon. I haven't seen The Reader (though I don't think it should win) or Milk (I have the feeling it'll be pretty good), it was definitely better than Benjamin Button.

Anyway, go see The Wrestler, it's top quality cinema.