A Punishing Character Study

One of the most painful moments in The Wrestler is when the doctor explains to Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) after his heart attack that he must not exert himself. The aging, muscular man is devastated and cries out, “Doc! I’m a professional wrestler!” The key word there is professional. He takes it seriously. It defines him. Being stripped of his identity, Randy feels worthless. He has never thought about the long term. His lost years of celebrity, drug use and promiscuity left him devoid of anyone who really care about him. Now, Randy is finally going to feel the emotional punishment he has spent his life numbing by punishing himself in the ring.

Why do I love Randy “The Ram” Robinson? Because after sleeping in the back of his van, he has the good spirit to humour the kids knocking outside his window with some horseplay. Because he is a good sport when he choreographs a wrestling match involving a staple gun being used on him. Because he really does love Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), that sweet woman who works at the strip joint he often frequents. Because he is a good sport when he choreographs having a staple gun used on him during a match. Because when Randy picks out a jacket with the letter “S” for his justifiably resentful daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), he really thinks she’ll like it. Because Randy hates himself for screwing up the good things that come his way. I can’t hate a man who already hates himself so much.

Mickey Rourke plays this character as if he atoning for sins for which he cannot forgive himself. Watch how Rourke has Randy force himself to smile and not cry when Cassidy swills the rest of her beer down. Sizing up Rourke, Marisa Tomei as Cassidy stomachs so much pain here, whether she exposes her body and is passed over by customers or how she just can’t bear to watch Randy punish himself. Back in 2005, Rourke played a brutish lug named Marv in the comic-adaptation of Sin City. That character’s dialogue and scarred face were the stuff of pulp. Marv is an extension to Randy, a very sad avenger who nurses romantic fantasies. The closest Marv gets to a confession is when he confides his trouble with love. “I couldn’t even buy a woman… the way I look.” Mickey cut a big slab of himself off that meaty character and named him “The Ram”.

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“Approximately and exactly.”
— Parabatial Kanhaiyalal ‘P.K.’ Dubey (Vijay Raaz) from Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Great Television Shows

2025

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (dir. Mary Bronstein)
Sound of Falling (In die Sonne Schauen) (dir. Mascha Schilinski)
A Little Prayer (dir. Angus MacLachlan)
Die My Love (dir. Lynne Ramsay)
Sharp Corner (dir. Jason Buxton)
Bring Her Back (dir. Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou)
The Love That Remains (Ástin Sem Eftir Er) (dir. Hlynur Pálmason)
One Battle After Another (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Ugly Stepsister (Den Stygge Stesøsteren) (dir. Emilie Blichfeldt)
The Plague (dir. Charlie Polinger)

HONOURABLE SELECTION (+3)

TRIX ARE FOR KIDS

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2025)
Kill Bill Vol. II (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2004)
Kill Bill Vol. I (dir. Quentin Tarantino, 2003)

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WE’VE LOST CONTROL

28 Years Later (dir. Danny Boyle, 2025)
28 Weeks Later (dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007)
28 Days Later (dir. Danny Boyle, 2002)

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WHEN ALL HOPE IS LOST

Sisu: Road to Revenge (dir. Jalmari Helander, 2025)
Sisu (dir. Jalmari Helander, 2022)

Weapons (dir. Zach Cregger)
Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Reflet dans un Diamant Mort)
(dir. Bruno Forzani and Hélène Cattet)
Black Bag / Presence (dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) (dir. Joachim Trier)
Caught by the Tides (Feng Liu Yi Dai) (dir. Jia Zhang-ke)
Dangerous Animals (dir. Sean Byrne)
The Shrouds (dir. David Cronenberg)
Henry Johnson (dir. David Mamet)
Roofman (dir. Derek Cianfrance)
Eddington (dir. Ari Aster)

The Secret Agent (dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho)
Caught Stealing (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
The Rule of Jenny Pen (dir. James Ashcroft)
Lurker (dir. Alex Russell)
The Ice Tower (La Tour de Glace) (dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović)
Honey Bunch (dir. Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer)
No Other Choice (Eojjeolsuga Eobsda) (dir. Park Chan-wook)
A Private Life (Vie Privée) (dir. Rebecca Zlotowski)
Bugonia (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
That They May Face The Rising Sun (dir. Pat Collins)

MORE MOVIES (35-54)

2024

THE SUBSTANCE (dir. Coralie Fargeat)
What Remains: The Confession of a Serial Killer (dir. Ran Huang)
Armand (dir. Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel)
Club Zero (dir. Jessica Hausner)
Snack Shack (dir. Adam Rehmeier)
Mars Express (dir. Jérémie Périn)
The Coffee Table (dir. Caye Casas)
Janet Planet (dir. Annie Baker)
Music (dir. Angela Schanelec)
The Apprentice (dir. Ali Abbasi)

HONOURABLE SELECTIONS (+7)

PERFECTLY SET GET-TOGETHERS
(REPRESSIONS AND RELEASES)

The Sparrow in the Chimney (Der Spatz im Kamin)
(dir. Ramon Zürcher, 2024)
The Girl and the Spider (Das Mädchen und die Spinne)
(dir. Silvan Zürcher and Ramon Zürcher, The Best Movie of 2021)
The Strange Little Cat (Das Merkwürdige Kätzchen)
(dir. Ramon Zürcher, 2013)

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WALLACE & GROMIT

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
(dir. Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham, 2024)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (dir. Nick Park, 2008)
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (dir. Nick Park, 2005)
A Close Shave (dir. Nick Park, 1995)
The Wrong Trousers (dir. Nick Park, 1993)
A Grand Day Out (dir. Nick Park, 1989)

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THE ESTATES OF COUNT ORLOK

Nosferatu (dir. Robert Eggers, 2024)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (dir. Werner Herzog, 1979)
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (dir. F. W. Murnau, 1922)

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“I’M THE GHOST WITH THE MOST, BABE.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (dir. Tim Burton, 2024)
Beetlejuice (dir. Tim Burton, 1988)

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TIME DESTROYS ALL THINGS

Irreversible (The Straight Cut) (dir. Gaspar Noé, 2024)
Irreversible (dir. Gaspar Noé, 2002)

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“I’M A TEMP.”

Vulcanizadora (dir. Joel Potrykus, 2024)
Buzzard (dir. Joel Potrykus, 2014)

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STICKS AND ZONES

ME (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2024)
World of Tomorrow Episode 2: The Burden of Other People’s Thoughts
(dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2017)
World of Tomorrow (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2015)
It’s Such a Beautiful Day (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2012)
Rejected (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 2000)
Billy’s Balloon (dir. Don Hertzfeldt, 1998)

Strange Darling – A Thriller in 6 Chapters (dir. J.T. Mollner)
Memoirs of a Snail (dir. Adam Elliot)
Eephus (dir. Carson Lund)
Small Things Like These (dir. Tim Mielants)
The Brutalist (In VistaVision 70mm) (dir. Brady Corbet)
His Three Daughters (dir. Azazel Jacobs)
Oddity (dir. Damian Mc Carthy)
Hard Truths (dir. Mike Leigh)
Better Man (dir. Michael Gracey)
Daddio (dir. Christy Hall)
CONTINUE READING ►

No Free Passes

One of the many things Lone Scherfig’s An Education gets right is show how wisdom comes suddenly. Take Jenny (Carey Mulligan, who is simply wonderful), a schoolgirl who at 16 is the brightest in her class, and fancies herself mature, sophisticated and wise. She actually does know a great deal and sometimes she is right on the money. Feeling restless and stuck in the straitlaced, lushly coloured town of Twickenham, London circa 1961, Jenny yearns for novelty and passion. This is two years before four guys from Liverpool would have turned her disillusionment on its head. For now, she sings along with her Juliette Greco LP (Sous Le Ciel De Paris) amongst other French singers in her bedroom. Those reminded of the Mario Lanza craze of Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) from Heavenly Creatures (1994) should take comfort that they are not alone. When she decides to allow herself to be courted by a 35-year-old named David (Peter Sarsgaard), know that David isn’t the only one with ulterior motives beneath the designs to woo. But she still has so much more to learn. For starters, to stay away from baddies like David.

Jenny studies vigorously in hope of going to Oxford where she can escape the mundanity of her middle class upbringing, “I’m going to talk to people who know lots and lots.” One rainy afternoon, she comes across David, who looks smart, is exceedingly charming, and drives a burgundy Bristol sports car. He offers her a ride. Eventually, she accepts. He looks harmless enough. What does David do for a living? “Property. A little art dealing. Selling this and that.” Where did he study? “I went to the University of Life. I didn’t get a good degree there.” Plus he’s Jewish, an exotic find as rare as well… Bristols! From there, Jenny is instantly smitten with this well-to-do gentleman and renegade. Jenny is so indifferent to her country and wants very much to enjoy France. To such a bored Brit, Jenny thrives to consume the cool French delights of cigarettes, Jazz and the French New Wave — Resnais, Goddard, Truffaut and Varda.

Her father Jack (Alfred Molina), a middle-class immigrant, has little sympathy for her appetites. He goes on about financial realities, forever dwelling on practicalities and studying. When Jenny considers taking a year off from school after graduating, her father asks, “What for?” This is a time where a woman’s education meant finding a suitor, not a career. Jenny is good at playing the cello, however, Jack dismisses that strength as something she’ll put aside in the working world. He is even more tough on the boys she brings home. Softening the blow is her mother Majorie (Cara Seymour) who has different ways of being both knowing and clueless as her husband. Understand that they are truly proud of their daughter and love her so. They just make the mistake of making her future sound like work when it ought to be celebrated. No wonder Jenny is attracted to David, he can open high end doors and afford her expensive things like idealism.

CONTINUE READING ►

We were spoiled by last year’s Oscar telecast. It didn’t feel that way at the time, but after going through the slough of nominations deemed safe by the Academy of Motion Pictures, a year where No Country For Old Men (2007) took home the big kahuna is looking more lustrous. Amidst the categories is a rigid formula of regularity that just strengthens my conspiracy that the Oscar voters are in cahoots with The Sandman. Some of nominees are deserving, but many of them have been preordained by the death of a thousand cuts that film pundits call Oscar Buzz.

Mind you, I’m writing this with a little tongue in cheek. If the few deserving nominees were absent from the categories, it would be disappointing despite how much news preordained the suspense out like a strangled balloon. Looking at the Best Actor nominees alone, four out of five great choices is not bad. Other categories are not as kind. This is the first out of two think-pieces about the 81st Annual Academy Award Nominations.

Best Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Ceán Chaffin, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall
Frost|Nixon (2008): Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner
Milk (2008): Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks (they won for American Beauty in 1999)
The Reader (2008): Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Christian Colson

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