Comments on Very Mark McCormick: Wrestling with Oscar

Always astute, Charlie. The reason I actually like...

2009-02-12T22:28:00.000-08:00

Always astute, Charlie. The reason I actually liked The Wrestler more than ohter Aronofsky films is because it hooked me emotionally and the others were just too highly stylized to really make me "care" about the characters. They were trickery, youthful exuberance. It's true there was nothing original about the plot of The Wrestler, but it's been said that there are only really 7 plots; it's all variation. I like seeing a film where I learn something about a subculture. I didn't know anything about wrestling, or stripping for that matter, though the latter is a more familiar milieu, due to the fact that old white men finance movies. You didn't say which films this year you liked more than The Wrestler, and believe me I'm not saying it was anywhere close to being the best, just better than I expected. And I like meta-themes: I think it was really a movie about Hollywood. Thanks for writing, Charlie!

I'm actually surprised on two fronts -- one, that ...

2009-02-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

I'm actually surprised on two fronts -- one, that you aren't a fan of Aronofsky (I'm a huge fan), and two, that you found The Wrestler that compelling or emotionally charged.

I think it was his worst film. The acting was great, but I honestly never felt attached to any of the characters or their stories in any real sort of way. The plot, though it had some well executed components, was so transparent and obvious to me, and I didn't really see it go anywhere. The big narrative events were exceptionally unexceptional: dad has medical issue, he stops a bit to reflect on his regrets, tries to reconnect with daughter who is emotionally scarred, only to screw up again by letting her down; the man's only recurring thread and all he knows in life only lets him down; yadda yadda yadda. I guess I just found it sort of... boring.
I loved the filmmaking though, and applaud his ability to make an otherwise unintersting story to me more intersting though style to put you *in* his life. But relative to other films this year, and absolutely to his other films, I just didn't see this as that much of a stand out. Requiem for a Dream is still, by far and wide, the most upsetting and disturbing film I've ever seen, and I don't think I could bear to watch it again -- but it is still one of my favorite films in that it made me feel so strongly (even if that feeling was car-wreck-into-a-train-wreck-into-a-plane-crash). The Fountain was almost a polar opposite, a fable of romantic ache and beautiful in it's lucidity. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but those (and Pi of course) just wholloped a much bigger punch that I found lacking in The Wrestler.

Oh, and Darren is only slightly older than me and making amazing films - that he's cute to boot is unendingly frustrating to me... :)

I knew you'd like the Wrestler. The close-ups of h...

2009-02-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

I knew you'd like the Wrestler. The close-ups of his life when he's inside his van... (btw, I totally looked away at the deli slicer scene, too).