A thousand words? Maybe a million...

Last night I saw... can you guess? Yep, The Wrestler. (98 on RT)

I was mesmerized, as much by watching the veritable definition of "ravaged" up on the screen as anything else. And perhaps I was the only one to wonder this, since it did earn a 98, but I still have to ask, why did we spend so much time looking at his back? No, really. For the first 20 minutes I swear I saw Mickey's face full on for a total of 90 seconds, and maybe his profile for another 120.

Now, supposedly this is as much a comeback for Mr. Aronofsky as it is for Mr. Rourke, and I will admit that it is a far cry from the mess that was The Fountain (51 on RT). All I'm really saying is, it was that much harder for me, and maybe I'm just a sucker for a pretty face, to care about Mickey's character until I got to see his character. You know, like from the front? Face to face? But like I said, maybe that's just me.

Be that as it may, I like small movies (okay, I like big movies too—I like all kinds of movies) and this is a really, really good small movie. By small, I don't mean easy, or simple, or unimportant. Because this movie is none of those things. But it does tell its story in a very close space, with an economy of words and color. And with perhaps a bit of an over-abundance of 80s music. And through it all, it's nearly impossible to take your eyes off Mickey. His front or back.