Wrestling

Good evening,
Last week I was trying very hard to keep myself occupied in an attempt to soothe the voice in my head that was screaming "badabadabadabada-BATMAN!" over and over again. One of those close to futile attempts started quite late. I believe it was last wednesday, around half past midnight, I asked my roommate if he would be up for a movie. I had set my sights on "The Wrestler", a movie I've found quite hard to convince people to watch because of the name alone. As soon as I mention the title people seem to scatter and run for the hills. Because who would want to watch a wrestling movie?
Usually I would try to explain to these people that The Wrestler is no more about wrestling than let's say.. Black Swan is about ballet or House M.D. is about medicine. It is just some kind of base that is required to convey a message. And almost always, I'd get the response: "yeah, yeah, what other movies you got?"
But on this night, my roommate caved, and we watched The Wrestler. A movie I had seen once before, when it first came out, I had watched it on one of my flights across the pond separating my homeland from my sister's. Also known as the Atlantic ocean. I had liked it back then, it had made a certain impression on me that made it somewhat memorable.

Last wednesday however, it struck me in a whole new way. I really sat down for it, and let it do it's work on me. A movie that is strayed away from by quite a few because of the wrestling aspect, showed me a very different underlying message.
To me this movie shows us an incredibly interesting triangle in the life of a wrestler nearing retirement. At one end of this triangle we have our Wrestling superhero "Randy the Ram", and you see him doing his thing. The crowd goes wild, and he gives them a great show. This is truly what he likes to do, and he does it well. The public sees him as a living legend.
Then there's his colleagues, his fellow wrestlers, we get a view at the professional aspect of wrestling. The interaction between the wrestlers, he is treated with respect but also a certain level of carefulness. People realize he's nearing his limit, and he can't do the things he used to be able to do.
And then there's the handful of people who actually know him when he's not putting on a show. The few people who interact with him during day to day life. In this film we see him reaching out to these people. Attempting to break free of all his roles, his shows, his characters.
The overlap between these three worlds, and the direct interaction between them, is what makes this is a great film for me.

If this verbal diarrhea manages to get even one person closer to ignoring their inner voice telling them they don't want to see a movie about the ballet, or wrestling or two gay cowboys, I have done my good deed for the day.

Live long and prosper,
Teun

Movies of june

Time for another monthly report.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - Awesome movie, great feel to it.
Prometheus (2012) - Cool movie, left me with a lot of questions tho. 
Almost Famous (2000) - Was a nice watch, I liked the music. 
Cosmopolis (2012) - I've heard mixed reactions to this movie, I thought it was badly executed.
Donnie Darko (2001) - I've watched this movie a couple of times now, I hope to one day truly understand it.
De rouille et D'os (2012) - Very strong movie, I liked this a lot. Seen it twice already now.
Drive (2011) - Man I love this movie.
Shame (2011) - I needed to rewatch this, so I did. Intense movie.
I am Sam (2001) - Sean Penn can play anything.
21 Jump street (2012) - Saw this with a filled movie theater, the crowd was going wild.
Starbuck (2012) - Very enjoyable, was better than I expected.
Blue Valentine (2011) - Ryan Gosling is great.
Paris, Texas (1984) - This movie had a great pace to it. 
The Raven (2021) - Okay to see, nothing special. But not bad.
The lucky one (2012) - Truly terrible, but we had an afternoon to fill.
The Five-year engagement (2012) - Had me laughing out loud for a good portion of the 2 hour movie.
Cashback (2006) - I quite liked this, had a nice feel to it.
Lilya-4-Ever (2002) - Quite impressive and depressing at the same time.
The amazing Spiderman (2012) - If you're a superhero fan like me, go watch this. If not, it's not that much different from the original spiderman.
Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Awesome.
Ice Age 4 (2012) - Lots of fun.

All in all, june has been a good movie month, but July is going to unleash The Dark Knight Rises. That's gonna be tough to beat.

Live long and prosper,
Teun