Quite possibly the best film of the year, The Wrestler dropkicked me right in the dick, but also, the heart. It has moments with all of the visceral, holy-crap-did-I-just-see-that appeal of Nic Cage in the bear suit or Samuel Jackson getting eaten by the shark in Deep Blue Sea – and not just ridiculous moments, but moments that feel ridiculously true.  You leave the theater feeling as charged up as if you just watched Rocky but without needing a lobotomy to believe the story.

The song Bruce Springsteen famously wrote for the film plays at the end when it fades to black, with The Boss singin ’bout three-legged dogs and one-trick ponies and cats on a dead end road that got shot in the eyes with a pellet gun.  Great song, but it’s almost unnecessary.  This movie is a Springsteen song.  It’s greasy, deep-fried Americana, and it’s f-cking delicious.

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In this new clip (video below) from director Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (trailer here), Mickey Rourke picks up off-duty stripper Marisa Tomei using the ultimate pimp move: he whips out his own action figure.  Let’s face it, seduction doesn’t get much more persuasive than that.  Though I’ve heard cocaine also works.

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The critics have been sucking off The Wrestler like it has the antidote in it ever since it hit the festival circuit a couple months ago.  Now it’s scheduled for a limited release December 31st, to expand to more theaters a couple weeks later.  Mickey Rourke plays washed up pro wrestler Randy The Ram Robinson and number one Hollywood cougar Marisa Tomei plays his stripper love interest.

Here’s my impression of the trailer: Darren Aronofsky!  Critical acclaim! Strippers!  Middle America!  Blue collar jobs! Springsteen!  Makin’ ends meet! Redemption! “Tell mah daughter ah love ‘er!”  Fade to black.

God this is going to be so awesome.

Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler — in which Mickey Rourke plays a grizzled, comeback-seeking performer with a whiskey-cured voice (Mickey Rourke plays Mickey Rourke, in other words) – has won the Golden Lion at the 65th Venice Film Festival.  Slashfilm had this to say:

Anne Thompson reports that the film is hoping to land a distributor which could “ramp up a release before year’s end so that [Mickey] Rourke can qualify for Oscar consideration” making a December release very likely.

[Aronofsky] sat there and said, “Listen man, you know you’re a really great actor.  You just ****ed up your whole career for 15 years, and, you know, nobody wants to hire you.”

Bad Taste recently released these pictures from Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, featuring Marisa Tomei, who, at 43, still looks pretty doable, and Mickey Rourke who… is… uh, also in The Wrestler.