the Wrestler

good points Zhao, crucial as you say from the director pov, knowing him i am sure he might have deliberately gone down these routes, π and Requiem for a Dream in particular are also films in which overtly political/humanitarian themes can be read

zhao said:

intentional, consciously, or even came across the director's mind or not (most likely yes), the film readily becomes a metaphor of the decline of Empire.

• opens with shot of American flag
• the constant weight, fatigue of a once mighty being struggling to maintain a reckless, unsustainable lifestyle
• bad choices and burnt bridges from the past catches up: spitting in the wind
• violence and its spectacle; the behind the scenes planning and negotiating with the "enemies" - non of it is what it seems, but the blood and toll on human life is real.
• the heart condition is like the deficit
• the addiction to the show which is killing him is like the dependence on oil
• instead of change when given the chance, the course is to plunge ahead on the suicidal path.

who's with me?

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now i've got another reason to be pissed off at missing it.

i'll get back to you once it's been on telly

zhao said:

intentional, consciously, or even came across the director's mind or not (most likely yes), the film readily becomes a metaphor of the decline of Empire.

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I wonder tho if some of this is just from the path of American professional wrestling following the kind of American zeitgeist pretty closely for the last 30 yrs or so...that it is, American pro wrestling - with it's overemphasis on big beefy steroid monsters (as opposed to other places where it's popular - like Mexico or Japan - where I think there's more emphasis on acrobatics/agility?), clearcut good guys/bad buys, flash over substance, etc etc etc...is a quintessentially American thing...not even a sport, more like performance art which is a better way to read I think...there's actually a fair bit of pomo, highbrow/lowbrow examinations of US pro wrestling as all this stuff about masculinity/image/blah blah blah...

that is, pro wrestling, reprsented by the Wrestler himself, was at it's height/peak in the 80s/early 90s...the good years...but it's time has really passed...you could of course make this argument about the U.S., many do, & it has some validity...tho I don't think it's as clearcut a case as w/pro wrestling...

also, as far as the film - went w/my mum of all people - we both quite enjoyed it...felt that Mickey Rourke was robbed of an Oscar (tho Penn was quite good as well - in an inferior but perhaps even more sentimental film)...

I was also quite fascinated to find out that Aronfonsky got the idea from - or at least was influenced - by Mingus' "The Clown", which I've never actually heard but is apparently has a spoken part about a clown who stumbles upon the bloodlust of the crowd & kills himself performing for them...

the photography was gritty, more like Pi, thankfully a turnaround from the direction The Fountain was going in. I like the American history analogy, it was like a Western. And Marisa Tormei's body is smoking.

it is a 2000-year-old narrative, no?
i liked it a lot though it felt like a shot-by-shot remake of the new testament.

Agent Nucleus said:

And Marisa Tormei's body is smoking.

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you definitely now have the undivided attention of Crackerjack and myself.

also: wonderfully put Padraig.

scottdisco said:

also: wonderfully put Padraig.

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thanks man, so long as we're clear that I nicked most of that stuff from other people...

Agent Nucleus said:

And Marisa Tormei's body is smoking.

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YES. she is in the category of women who have gotten more attractive as they age (not that she wasn't still pretty smoking back in the My Cousin Vinny days...)...maybe becoming a better actress has enhanced her beauty as well...I dunno...