Intentionally or not, ‘The Whale’ is turning out to be an incredible redemption story for Brendan Fraser. On and off camera. It is not that his fall was his fault (quite the opposite), but he has had to gradually come back, putting together notable works in smaller projects, although some may argue that they are more interesting, being the project with Darren Aronofsky. the culmination that can lead you to Oscar glory.
At the very least, getting together with Aronofsky to continue the promotion is a very wise decision. Not so much because of Darren’s creative stature, which admittedly is vastly interesting if extremely uneven (his high points of him are very high and his lows are very low), but because he knows how to take advantage of his stars, especially Naps They have fallen and seek redemption. This is how he showed it with ‘The fighter’.
Hits of life and real
Available on platforms like FlixOlé or Filmin, as well as free on PlutoTV (with ads), this sports drama introduces us to an aging Mickey Rourke bruised by life’s (and literal) blows. A story with a certain search for redemption but also a lot of self destructionas the stories that Darren becomes obsessed with tend to have.
Rourke stars as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a former wrestling star who rose to glory and success in the 1980s only to descend in brutal fashion. He now squeezes as much fame out of him as he can on the underground circuit, fighting in crappy ringside against third-division rivals. has sunk too lowand his only hopes of trying to put his life back together are to repair his relationship with his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and in love with a stripper (Marisa Tomei).
The film, of course, draws on the true story of Mickey Rourke, also a teen star disgraced by his own story of self-destruction. Aspects that help to do rawer and more realistic his interpretation, which already shows delivered by physical changes and emotional vulnerability. It could have easily fallen into very superficial aspects that aroused tenderness in the most manipulative way in the more or less attentive viewer, but that is not the case.
‘The Fighter’: Honest Vulnerability
Credit must be given to Aronofsky who, although he maintains a certain intense style in his drama, tries to contain himself so that the character and the story are the true protagonists, while in other films his way of directing is so prominent that he ends up absorbing everything. In ‘The Fighter’ he does his most accessible tape, but not the poorest, maintaining some of his humanistic concerns in a very down-to-earth format that knows how to involve the audience.
It’s a choice clever and paradoxically interesting. Deprive yourself of artifice to end up dazzling. It may not be among his most admirable or best films, but it is one where he shows that he has the ability to make different types of films. If I wanted to, I’d play the Hollywood game better than anyone else. But no, just like his characters, Aronofsky can’t help but self-immolate through big explosions and analogies. Perhaps for this reason ‘El luchador’ has part of an honest self-portrait.
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