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November 25, 2008
The Wrestler, Condensed
I've been repeatedly watching the trailer for The Wrestler since it premiered last week. It's a entirely satisfying viewing experience: an emotional powerhouse of an advertisement, like a well-scripted narrative, hitting all the right notes, the right highs and lows. That Bruce Springsteen song kicks in at just the right point, and through it all there's Mickey Rourke - who, yes, is finally getting the attention he deserves again, who's no longer the well-kept secret that he's somehow remained these past ten years, in spite of increasingly prolific roles. He's always had that poetry in him, and he's got more of Bukowski to him now, here, than when he played his alter ego twenty years ago in Barfly. And like Bukowski, age is catching up to whatever happened to his face, and working its magic and making him glow again.
And then the trailer is over, and I'm left with the curious sense that I don't actually need to see the film; it was all there, in two-and-a-half-minutes. The performances. The Boss tune from the credits. Aronofsky's stripped down visual approach. The metal, the tears on the beach. I loved it. Is it going to get any better than it already is?
Posted by David Lowery at November 25, 2008 2:47 AM
Comments
You know, I don't mind it too much when they reduce Hollywood blockbusters down to 2:30 minutes, but it does sadden me to see them do it to a well-made film.
Oh, and the 'tears on the beach' scene isn't the most heartbreaking part of that sequence. What comes a moment later is near perfection.
Posted by: Aaron at November 27, 2008 1:58 AM
I never bothered to watch the trailer, but we went to an AFI screening of it last week. It's pretty damn awesome. You should for sure see it. I guess I need to watch the trailer now!
Posted by: Clay Liford at November 27, 2008 8:45 AM
I'm definitely going to see it - it's one of movies I'm looking forward to the most. Man, all this traveling is getting in the way of my old advance screening habits! I'm missing Che next week...
Posted by: David Lowery at November 28, 2008 11:55 AM
Having not seen the movie, I really, really, really want Rourke to walk on stage and accept the Oscar.
Picture that.
A face that looks like it's been inflated by Bozo on meth. And then deflated with buckshot.
"Thank you."
That is history.
Posted by: Kyle M at December 10, 2008 2:24 AM