Nothing Against Sean Penn in Milk

Called my Mother last night. "Congratulations," she said. "How did you hear?" I asked. "You sent me an email."

I was so tired I did not remember.

Zombied out in the chair we watched The Wrestler. I read that Nick Cage bowed out of the picture because the director preferred Mickey Rourke. This was a wise move. I really respected this film. It has a masterpiece of a performance by Rourke, who is Ram, a professional wrestler from the eighties well past his prime. I was not expecting it to be a remake of Au Hasard Balthazar, with Rourke as the donkey. Ok, maybe I'm stretching it a bit, but the film carries that much emotional depth. I was quivering during a scene on the beach where Ram is trying to reconnect to his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) by calling himself "A broken down piece of meat." He should have won the oscar for this one.

Marisa Tomei plays Cassidy/Pam, a stripper Ram is infatuated with.



My wife thought she was a bit too well scrubbed for her role, and maybe she's right. Perhaps Courtney Love would have been well cast in this role, if they could have afforded to insure her for the shoot.

Again, I'm late to the party, but this was a very good film. I also liked the soundtrack, a fine compilation of eighties metal. While I was no fan of that music, it was an excellent fit to the theme of the film, which made the inclusion of a Bruce Springsteen song over the closing credits quite pandering to fame and unnecessary.