Giveaway: Win tickets to The Wrestler

05 January 2009 | 9:19 - By World Movies

Hopscotch Films and SBS are giving you the chance to see the standout film of this awards season, Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler.

Wrestler_bar_308_1459365925

Back in the late 1980s, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) was a champion professional wrestler. Now, 20 years later, he ekes out a living stacking shelves in a supermarket and performing fights for handfuls of diehard wrestling fans in high school gyms around New Jersey. It soon becomes clear though, that amateur wrestling is not just a money-making arrangement for the physically shattered ex-champ - the ring is the only place of comfort to him in a world he finds bewildering.

Through a series of setbacks Randy begins to evaluate the state of his life - trying to reconnect with his daughter, and striking up a blossoming romance with an aging stripper (Marisa Tomei). Yet all this cannot compare to the allure of the ring and passion for his art, which threatens to pull Randy "The Ram" back into his world of wrestling.




The Wrestler is released into cinemas on January 15.

For your chance to win a double in-season pass to see the film, simply email 'movieshow@sbs.com.au', with 'The Wrestler' in the subject line.


Share article: 
top

Comments (6)

31 Jan 2009 9:35 AEST

Mark

From: Kingston

The Wrestler - Movie Review - First Part

Rourke is perfect as ‘Randy’ a dishevelled, dipso, has-been, pro-wrestler ‘potatoed’ by his career; yet remaining the faithful champion of his own roaring, soaring vanity - even as it is killing him. Tomei segues lewdly from Pretty Young Stripper With a Heart of Gold (PYSWaHoG) to POMWaHoS and then back again. He (stronger than a lion) is the pole she swings off; she (sweeter than honey) is the top rope he sags upon.

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

31 Jan 2009 9:27 AEST

Mark

From: Kingston

The Wrestler - Movie Review - Penultimate Part

To Randy, the wrestling ring is a prison yard. However ignominious, it is a merciful release from the immiserating torment of the prison cell which the rest of his life has become. Still, in ‘commence-de-siecle’ America even pro-wrestling is without honour. Half a century ago those American working class men who held their jobs and their worth by simple physical strength saw mechanisation slowly undermine their jobs and their worth.

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

31 Jan 2009 9:23 AEST

Mark

From: Kingston

The Wrestler - Movie Review - last part

And so, the wrestling ring became the final fastness of the working class hero. The blue-collared, red-necked champion’s last redoubt. But, in our century, even wrestling is debauched; an ignoble Grand-Guignol theatre: matches are rigged; and wrestlers rise, not through ability, but politicking. And so, the deed is nothing, the glory is everything; and the money falls somewhere in between. (Randy puts it succinctly: ‘The nineties sucked’.) And so, calm of mind all passion spent, Abraham’s daggy-braided sacrificial ram dives among the Philistines.

Agree (0 people agree)    Disagree (0 people disagree) Report this
 

13 Jan 2009 11:49 AEST

Tyler

From: Fitzroy North

Incredible

This was an incredibly engrossing story. One can't help but be sucked in by, and even relate to, Randy's world. Mickey Rourke gives a wonderfully nuanced performance, and his portrayal of a man who who has hit rock bottom - yet still manages to retain some semblance of dignity, self respect and hope - is absolutely captivating. This film will have even the hardest wrestling fan reaching for the Kleenex!

Agree (6 people agree)    Disagree (1 people disagree) Report this
 

10 Jan 2009 22:51 AEST

Jo

From: Campbell

Crap film, don't bother

If you enjoy watching people staple money to each other's foreheads, by all means, knock yourself out on this film. Who the hell are these morons, anyway?

Agree (3 people agree)    Disagree (9 people disagree) Report this
 

10 Jan 2009 6:41 AEST

Emma

From: Ascot Park

Andy The Wrestler

well i guess we've all come to a crossroad where you feel you must choose one path or the other and for andy wrestling being his passion, how could he resist.. ..nothing beats doing something you love! This doesnt seem wrong or harmful as there are rules in the sport and it brings his soul to life!

Agree (3 people agree)    Disagree (2 people disagree) Report this
 

Join the discussion

You have characters remaining.
Validation (
) :
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.

PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.