The trailer for The Wrestler, with Mickey Rourke, was very effective, but not in the way Fox Searchlight probably intended--it convinced me I did not want to see the movie. Rourke looked almost unwatchable. That face made me cringe.
Later, I changed my mind. I still did not want to see it, but I felt that I should. And a few days ago, Elizabeth and I went to see it. I found the film almost haunting, and Rourke's performance was extraordinary. Elizabeth felt the same way.
It has a small, but poignant plot strand related to fatherhood. Rourke tells the pole-dancer who's his only friend (Marisa Tomei) that he has a daughter, "but she don't like me very much."
Later, he makes an attempt to reconnect. (No spoilers here--this is all in the trailer.) "I just don't want you to hate me," he tells her, erupting in tears.
It's a little beyond what most of us experience with our kids. But there's something very real there.
See it.
