A story of personal ruin and while it certainly does echo Mickey's own life, it wouldn't be fair to say he is playing himself. Sure, Rourke's performance must have been informed by his own past, but that is different, as well as peculiarly powerful.

Great performances, great story.

Who better than Rourke to sell the idea of a battered, yet proud pugilist in search of redemption?

Aronofsky makes movies about people who suffer for their art, but in The Wrestler, suffering is the art, the spectacle that people are so drawn to. A distillation of his most enduring themes, it still foregoes his more disorienting visual tricks.