The Wrestler (2008)

"The Wrestler" is another gem from director Darren Aronofsky ("Requiem for a Dream"). Mickey Rourke, long absent from any decent film, plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson -- not his real name -- an ex-professional wrestler whose life stopped in 1990. He lives in a crap trailer that's as beat-up and meshed together as his own body, and he owns nothing made past the Reagan era. But he's not dead. Yet. This film nails lower class life in central New Jersey, the loneliness of boardwalks, and the life of middle-aged wrestlers living in Zombieland. (I once wrote a story on similar wrestlers. Writer Robert Siegel nails every reeking sweat-flop detail. It's like a documentary of that one weird night.) This is deep, poetic film about a simple man who can take the horrific physical violence of the ring, but not the emotional punches of life. One of 2008's Top 5. Rourke is amazing. A