Brooklyn is well represented tonight, said director Darren Aronofsky introducing the closing night film of the New York Film Festival. was speaking of his own hometown borough and that of the women co-starring in"The Wrestler" Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood saving his intro of the star (not from Brooklyn), Mickey Rourke for last. You may have forgotten Rourke who has been on leave from acting, wrestling for some years. In his return to acting he is simply unforgettable as The Ram, a pro wrestler in his prime, now aging, vulnerable. Wrestling, as in Luche Libre, is theater, spectacle. From gig to gig, the Ram's bloodletting is worthy of Jacobean drama. I sat with my hands covering my eyes, even though Aronofsky, working with a fine script gives us quite a bit of the behind-the-action. But it all looks so real. The Ram with his six pack abs and blond mane is less Jake LaMotta and more Willy Loman on the waterfront, he's that much of a classic American anti-hero. Rourke should get an Academy Award for this role. Marissa Tomei plays a stripper/lap dancer with a proverbial heart of gold. I'm a mom, she tells Ram, even though we see her in her fishnet gloves, g-string uniform pole dancing, gyrating in crotch-revealing dips and plies. Reminiscent of her generous performance in last year's festival's excellent Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Know You're Dead," Tomei should earn a second Oscar. The stars joined Rachel Weisz, Aronofsky's wife, and Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber and many others for the after party at Josefina. Up close, you can still see the poet in Rourke's face. His performance as Bukowsky in "Barfly" was so long ago, he seems surprised when I tell him that; after all, he's had some reconstruction on his face. Itell him his performance was so powerful I was in there with him, especially in the film's final moment standing atop the ring's ropes. Laughing he said, I wish that was you. Ah, I say, but I know my limits.
"The Wrestler" will be screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival this weekend
Regina Weinreich
Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura
Comments