There I was, still feeling under the weather, and a bit depressed about not working that particular day (mostly because of ridiculous and unforeseen complications). Yes, I was trying desperately to get over the really bad cold that I had gotten over the weekend. At first, it seemed like it might be allergies, but by the time I was shivering at work, even after putting on several layers and bundling up as much as possible, it was obvious that this was something more serious. Everything had hurt, from the headache that was probably due to the relentless stuffiness and phlegm, to the body aches, which is when you know you are really sick. The general fatigue, not just mental but physical, also did not help.
So, it would be safe to say that I wanted to take it easy, although I would have gone in to work if given the chance.
Instead, there I was, home alone again, in what amounted to another day to try and recover from the stubborn cold. It was seemingly on the decline, but I wanted to beat this thing.
My mind had not cleared from the morning haze. Usually, I really actually enjoy early morning, and often get some of my best work done then. But not on this day. Hell, I could not even remember the password that normally I type in without even thinking about it. It's one of those things where, generally, the less I concentrate on it, the easier it will be for it all of a sudden to come to me (presumably because the pressure I put on myself for forgetting something so simple and automatic gets in the way).
Needing a bit of a distraction, I decided to watch something. Perhaps that might get me going in what was turning out to be, unfortunately, a surprisingly sluggish day, even taking my cold into consideration.
Perusing through the small collection of DVD's stacked (pretty neatly) on the shelf on the side of the desk, my eyes happened on "The Wrestler", and before I knew it, it had found it's way into the DVD player.
I had seen this movie before, shortly after it came out on DVD, having borrowed it from a friend. And it was enjoyable, a very good movie.
But one thing about this movie: it's really freaking depressing!
So, let me go ahead and talk about it a bit, so if you have not seen it yet and don't want me to spoil it, stop reading now!
***Spoiler Alert***
Mickey Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an aging wrestler well past his prime, who is still living in the shadow of the glory of his past, when wrestling was really huge back in the eighties. The glory and the lifestyle that wrestling's success back then provided him is clearly long gone, as he is driving an old, beat up van and living in a trailer park, and has clearly is struggling to keep up with the monthly payments for the place.
Obviously, times have changed, but he has not accepted that. Still wrestling, and still taking the steroids and getting the fake tans to keep up the appearances necessary to make his living, albeit a meager one now, in the wrestling ring.
Marisa Tomei plays Cassidy, his love interest, who herself, like "The Ram", is stuck using her aging body in doing something that she wishes she could move past. She is a strip dancer, and one of the first scenes we see is "The Ram" bullying some teenage boys that were harassing Cassidy based on her age.
Cassidy, we find out, is actually a mother of a child, and trying to turn her life around. She is scared of any relationship with Randy, who's real name in this story is Robin Ramzinski. Apparently, she does not feel the same attraction towards him as he has towards her, or at least, she seems hesitant to enter into anything serious with him. As the movie progresses, however, she begins to show that, indeed, she does have feelings for him.
Randy "The Ram" Robinson is starting to slow down enough to be not just noticeable, but unavoidable. This is best illustrated after a match in which he allows the other wrestler to shoot him with a staple gun. They are both giving each other tremendous abuse, even though wrestling is fake. When the match is over, "The Ram" is attended to. The final staples removed, he remains in his seat before going to the shower. When he gets up, he seems unsteady and sluggish and, before he reaches the shower, he collapses unconscious.
He wakes up in a hospital bed, and finds out that he has had a heart attack, and needs to retire from his wrestling career. Wrestling, of course, is all that he has ever known. He does not know what he is going to do with the rest of his life.
Obviously feeling more uncertain and scared than he has ever felt before, being now deprived of the one thing in his life where he knew he had a place, he reaches out to the only people really in his life: Cassidy, who he wants to be in a relationship with. Stephanie, his estranged daughter, (played by Evan Rachel Wood), who has grown sick and tired of her father constantly pushing her out of his life and generally failing her. Hell, Randy even reaches out to some of the kids of the trailer park, to play Nintendo wrestling games, featuring "The Ram" himself, which the kids themselves find completely boring and outdated.
In short, this is a broken down and quickly aging man, who is beginning to have to face the decisions that he made in the past, and is regretting them, all while facing this new, entirely uncertain future.
He struggles to make ends meet. Some wrestling events here and there, such as signings, although Randy does, at least at first, stick with his retirement, as per doctor's orders.
So, he works part-time on the weekends at a supermarket, taking whatever hours and duties that he can, to make some much-needed money. Also, he tries to repair the broken relationship with his daughter, all while pursuing Cassidy. In short, he is trying to redefine himself, and come to terms with a life after wrestling.
But it is far too late to change. He is an old man, stuck in his ways, and whenever he gets the chance to relive his days of glory, he does. This inevitably gets him into trouble, particularly when a one-night stand with a very young, college aged girl (maybe college age) has him escaping her home and making his way back to his own trailer park house to sleep the rough night off, only to oversleep and miss the important dinner date that he had made with his daughter in his efforts to reestablish something of a relationship there. She is heartbroken, and when he tries to apologize, she cuts him off, and tells him that she never wants to se him again, it would be better if he were not a part of her life anymore.
In the meantime, he and Cassidy have apparently reached an irreconcilable point, as well. She tells him that she cannot do this, does not want a relationship with him, since he is a customer. He gets angry, and throws money down on the strip bar counter, and tells her to give him some sexy dances, and treats her in exactly the cheap way that he knows will piss her off the most.
He also blows up at work after an accident there, and erupts at the manager, who has given him an attitude throughout, as well as at the customers, who seem all obnoxious. He decides to go ahead and resume his wrestling career with a big feature match that he was scheduled for.
But in the meantime, where all doors had previously seemed closed, suddenly one opens. Cassidy finds his home, and although surprised to see her, he seems to now be the one that remains distant. He tells her that he will be wrestling, and she asks him why, given his health concerns. He brushes that off, and invites her if she wants, before driving off.
He drives down to the wrestling event, and takes the atmosphere in. We cannot really tell what he is thinking.
Not true of Cassidy, who returns to her dancing that night. But we can see something is wrong, something is on her mind and troubling her. All of a sudden, she leaves the stage and her dance apparently midway through, gets dressed, and drives down to Delaware, where "The Ram" is scheduled to wrestle. She hurriedly pays the price of entry, and then finds her way backstage, and manages to catch up with him just before he is about to enter the ring.
They talk. She tells him that she is there for real now, that she is ready to be in his life. Perhaps their relationship can work, and perhaps, she can even repair the relationship with his daughter. There are possibilities there, at least, and Randy has a choice.
It appears that it is no choice at all. He seems to have no hesitation at all, telling her that the world outside is the only thing that ever hurt him, but the world of wrestling has always given him joy and meaning. When his theme song to enter the ring comes on (Quiet Riot's "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)", he tells her that this is where he belongs, pointing to the ring. He starts walking towards it, and the crowd erupts when they see him. She calls out after him, but he cannot hear her, lost in the world of wrestling.
He seems determined to die in the ring, wrestling with more energy and intensity than he probably has shown in years, prompting the other wrestler ("The Ayatollah") to urge him to calm down, take it easy. But the Ram does not, and for a while, it hardly even seems like the match is fake. They really seem to be struggling out there.
But the Ram is scheduled to win, and he has several opportunities to do so. The Ayatollah even urges him to go ahead and pin him, for the match to be over, so that he won't hurt himself.
But Randy "The Ram" Robinson is determined to go out with his signature move. Clearly feeling the effects of the night's activity as he continually holds his heart throughout the match, he nonetheless climbs the top ropes, and then gets the crowd behind him. He is in tears, and salutes the crowd, before finally jumping, in a scene that seems to suggest that this is his suicide, his final departure from this world. He could not cope with the world outside of wrestling, so he decided to end it in the only place that made him happy and had any sense for him, ironically, the fake world of wrestling.
But one thing about this movie: it's really freaking depressing!
So, let me go ahead and talk about it a bit, so if you have not seen it yet and don't want me to spoil it, stop reading now!
***Spoiler Alert***
Mickey Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an aging wrestler well past his prime, who is still living in the shadow of the glory of his past, when wrestling was really huge back in the eighties. The glory and the lifestyle that wrestling's success back then provided him is clearly long gone, as he is driving an old, beat up van and living in a trailer park, and has clearly is struggling to keep up with the monthly payments for the place.
Obviously, times have changed, but he has not accepted that. Still wrestling, and still taking the steroids and getting the fake tans to keep up the appearances necessary to make his living, albeit a meager one now, in the wrestling ring.
Marisa Tomei plays Cassidy, his love interest, who herself, like "The Ram", is stuck using her aging body in doing something that she wishes she could move past. She is a strip dancer, and one of the first scenes we see is "The Ram" bullying some teenage boys that were harassing Cassidy based on her age.
Cassidy, we find out, is actually a mother of a child, and trying to turn her life around. She is scared of any relationship with Randy, who's real name in this story is Robin Ramzinski. Apparently, she does not feel the same attraction towards him as he has towards her, or at least, she seems hesitant to enter into anything serious with him. As the movie progresses, however, she begins to show that, indeed, she does have feelings for him.
Randy "The Ram" Robinson is starting to slow down enough to be not just noticeable, but unavoidable. This is best illustrated after a match in which he allows the other wrestler to shoot him with a staple gun. They are both giving each other tremendous abuse, even though wrestling is fake. When the match is over, "The Ram" is attended to. The final staples removed, he remains in his seat before going to the shower. When he gets up, he seems unsteady and sluggish and, before he reaches the shower, he collapses unconscious.
He wakes up in a hospital bed, and finds out that he has had a heart attack, and needs to retire from his wrestling career. Wrestling, of course, is all that he has ever known. He does not know what he is going to do with the rest of his life.
Obviously feeling more uncertain and scared than he has ever felt before, being now deprived of the one thing in his life where he knew he had a place, he reaches out to the only people really in his life: Cassidy, who he wants to be in a relationship with. Stephanie, his estranged daughter, (played by Evan Rachel Wood), who has grown sick and tired of her father constantly pushing her out of his life and generally failing her. Hell, Randy even reaches out to some of the kids of the trailer park, to play Nintendo wrestling games, featuring "The Ram" himself, which the kids themselves find completely boring and outdated.
In short, this is a broken down and quickly aging man, who is beginning to have to face the decisions that he made in the past, and is regretting them, all while facing this new, entirely uncertain future.
He struggles to make ends meet. Some wrestling events here and there, such as signings, although Randy does, at least at first, stick with his retirement, as per doctor's orders.
So, he works part-time on the weekends at a supermarket, taking whatever hours and duties that he can, to make some much-needed money. Also, he tries to repair the broken relationship with his daughter, all while pursuing Cassidy. In short, he is trying to redefine himself, and come to terms with a life after wrestling.
But it is far too late to change. He is an old man, stuck in his ways, and whenever he gets the chance to relive his days of glory, he does. This inevitably gets him into trouble, particularly when a one-night stand with a very young, college aged girl (maybe college age) has him escaping her home and making his way back to his own trailer park house to sleep the rough night off, only to oversleep and miss the important dinner date that he had made with his daughter in his efforts to reestablish something of a relationship there. She is heartbroken, and when he tries to apologize, she cuts him off, and tells him that she never wants to se him again, it would be better if he were not a part of her life anymore.
In the meantime, he and Cassidy have apparently reached an irreconcilable point, as well. She tells him that she cannot do this, does not want a relationship with him, since he is a customer. He gets angry, and throws money down on the strip bar counter, and tells her to give him some sexy dances, and treats her in exactly the cheap way that he knows will piss her off the most.
He also blows up at work after an accident there, and erupts at the manager, who has given him an attitude throughout, as well as at the customers, who seem all obnoxious. He decides to go ahead and resume his wrestling career with a big feature match that he was scheduled for.
But in the meantime, where all doors had previously seemed closed, suddenly one opens. Cassidy finds his home, and although surprised to see her, he seems to now be the one that remains distant. He tells her that he will be wrestling, and she asks him why, given his health concerns. He brushes that off, and invites her if she wants, before driving off.
He drives down to the wrestling event, and takes the atmosphere in. We cannot really tell what he is thinking.
Not true of Cassidy, who returns to her dancing that night. But we can see something is wrong, something is on her mind and troubling her. All of a sudden, she leaves the stage and her dance apparently midway through, gets dressed, and drives down to Delaware, where "The Ram" is scheduled to wrestle. She hurriedly pays the price of entry, and then finds her way backstage, and manages to catch up with him just before he is about to enter the ring.
They talk. She tells him that she is there for real now, that she is ready to be in his life. Perhaps their relationship can work, and perhaps, she can even repair the relationship with his daughter. There are possibilities there, at least, and Randy has a choice.
It appears that it is no choice at all. He seems to have no hesitation at all, telling her that the world outside is the only thing that ever hurt him, but the world of wrestling has always given him joy and meaning. When his theme song to enter the ring comes on (Quiet Riot's "Metal Health (Bang Your Head)", he tells her that this is where he belongs, pointing to the ring. He starts walking towards it, and the crowd erupts when they see him. She calls out after him, but he cannot hear her, lost in the world of wrestling.
He seems determined to die in the ring, wrestling with more energy and intensity than he probably has shown in years, prompting the other wrestler ("The Ayatollah") to urge him to calm down, take it easy. But the Ram does not, and for a while, it hardly even seems like the match is fake. They really seem to be struggling out there.
But the Ram is scheduled to win, and he has several opportunities to do so. The Ayatollah even urges him to go ahead and pin him, for the match to be over, so that he won't hurt himself.
But Randy "The Ram" Robinson is determined to go out with his signature move. Clearly feeling the effects of the night's activity as he continually holds his heart throughout the match, he nonetheless climbs the top ropes, and then gets the crowd behind him. He is in tears, and salutes the crowd, before finally jumping, in a scene that seems to suggest that this is his suicide, his final departure from this world. He could not cope with the world outside of wrestling, so he decided to end it in the only place that made him happy and had any sense for him, ironically, the fake world of wrestling.
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