Golden Lion, Venice
This gritty film from Darren Aronofsky deservedly won Mickey Rourke many awards for actor in 2008, including the Golden Globe, but unfortunately not the Oscar. Its hard to imagine that he'll ever be better than this, and more than carries this powerful Aronofsky film about an over-the-hill wrestler now running into health problems from a career of drug abuse. Marisa Tomei also won many awards as supporting actress, but also not her second Oscar, as an aging exotic dancer in a bar, now being passed by for the younger girls. She and Randy (the Ram) strike up a believable friendship as both see some of themselves in the other.
This is another intimately personal film by Darren Aronofsky, which are usually about a character trying to make it through a tough life situation, and who are usually obsessed with one thing: drugs in Requiem for a Dream, math in Pi, brain research in The Fountain. In this case, Randy cannot see a life past the ring, it's all he's known for 20 years, and has no one in his life really but his fans. Not a pleasant story, but a realistic story on all counts, and you'll like it even if you aren't a wrestling fan, it's really about personal communication and character development. Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Mickey Rourke won 14 awards for actor for this, Marisa Tomei won 7.
Awards Page at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1125849/awards
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