Rourke (and Aronofsky) back in the ring

By Borys Kit

"The Wrestler" muscled into Toronto Sunday night and put, well, a bodyslam on the fest audience.

The movie, Darren Aronofsky's gritty and touching ode to a fictional washed-up 1980s wrestling star on a comeback trail, was already riding high on expectation: It had won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and received no small amount of critical praise, which is why the screening brough out plenty of acquisition execs, from Harvey Weinstein to Daniel Battsek.

Proceedings were off to a rowdy start when one small section began singing "Happy Birthday" to Rachel Evan Wood, one of the movie's stars, who was there with boyfriend Marilyn Manson.

Aronofsky was soon on stage, and trying to downplay expectations. "There's no way we're going to live up to that hype," referring to festival co-director Cameron Bailey's intro as well as the Venice prize. He then jokingly called the movie "small" and "crappy."

The movie may indeed be small, but it is the opposite of crappy. Shot in a pseudo-documentary style, the pic is rough and gritty but not depressing. And schmaltz never enters the picture; the movie earns the audiences' investment in the characters.

The biggest hero of "The Wrestler" is Mickey Rourke, who despite his rough exterior, Aronofsky called "an eggshell" and "a fragile, beautiful human being." 

Rourke's performance does, indeed, live up to the hype.

The words "phenomenal" and "amazing" were escaping lips as acquisition execs, stars and the general public tumbled out of the theater, and many were saying the movie should sell overnight.

UPDATE: Looks like Fox Searchlight will win the fight for distribution rights.