The Wrestler

The Wrestler is finally in Des Moines, opening today at the Fleur Cinema (and the Century... but eff the Century). I was worried that the extended wait to see this film would lead to over-hyping and inevitably disappointment. Fortunately, the movie is incredible and lives up to the much deserved hype.

Looking at the Oscar nominations, The Wrestler was left out of two catagories that given the competition, it should've won out. The first is for Best Original Screenplay, where the nominees are: WallE, Milk, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges, and Frozen River. I chose not to see Frozen River, but did see the rest of those pics. WallE was a one dimensional story... really not much to it other than the spectacular visual effects. Milk is a biopic...which means the story was pretty much already written. Happy-Go-Lucky was a boring piece of shit with a couple cute British ladies and shouldn't have been nominated for anything. Finally, In Bruges was quite clever and a lot of fun; deserving of this nomination, imo. I think Robert Siegel's script should've won this category hands down. The Wrestler is an original story reflecting not just on the hard lives these wrestlers choose, but the effects of living hard until your body breaks down - the effect this lifestyle has on your personal life - being born one person, life changing you, and the choice to try and start over or burn out trying to carry your candle into the sunset. None of the stories nominated (with the possible exception of Frozen River) were so in-depth and personal.

The Academy did nominate Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. If either wins, it will be tremendously deserved. The only competition for Rourke is Sean Penn's performance in Milk. Both are incredible. On one hand, Penn's character is currently so much more relevant given recent legislation denying basic civil rights to homosexuals. However, again Milk is a biopic. Penn had a model to follow. Mikey Rourke's character shows so much range. In the promotional material, the phrase "tour de force" isn't an overstatement - Rourke gives a powerful and moving performance. Given Marisa Tomei's competition, she should have her Oscar locked up both because her role is bigger than the others and requiring of her great performance.

The other nomination The Wrestler deserved is Best Picture. The nominees for which are: Milk, Frost/Nixon (which I haven't seen yet), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, and last and completely undeserving, The Reader. What happens in The Reader? SPOILERS! Kate Winslet spends most of her time naked, either screwing a teenager or having him read to her because she's illiterate. WTF? Just because she can't read, she's going to sleep with a minor? Turns out, she did some Nazi stuff and gets old and learns to read, which finally makes her regret her Nazi-actions? WTF!?! This story is horrible. Given that, on the whole it's not a bad movie... just unremarkable. Nominating it shows that the Academy isn't looking for great movies, just formulas. The Wrestler belongs with Milk and Slumdog Millionaire, being recognized as one of the great movies of 2008. I think The Wrestler will stand alone against any of these films though over time, as one of the best films of the last decade.

BTW, Todd Barry is great as the grocery store boss.