We rented Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler from Netflix: I didn't expect a movie about wrestling  (and pole
dancing)  to be so poetic and lyrical. Mickey Rourke, who looks like he's bionic, plays an unexpectedly
gentle (and sad) character named Randy the Ram.

A loser on so many levels, Rourke is a "one trick pony," who needs to figure out how to survive once he retires from the sport. He tries to resuscitate his relationship with his grown daughter played by Rachel Evan Rachel Wood, who hates him for being a consistent no-show. The scenes with Wood are powerful and poignant.  A scene where they dance in an abandoned Jersey Shore ballroom bordered on the corny but managed to
be anything but.

Marisa Tomei plays an unexpectedly complex stripper/pole dancer who wants to make something more of her life for herself and her son.

The wrestling scenes are graphic and brutal. Hard to take at times, they are also incredibly interesting.

Subtextually, the movie also tells Mickey Rourke's own
life story of a guy who screwed up big time and wants to come back is
fascinating and definitely blurs the line between fiction and life.