On the subject of popular 80s metal I protest too much. The first magic trick Aronofsky performs is to unveil my primitive impulse toward Sweet Child o' Mine. In the hands of a savvy director, DJ, or jukebox hero Slash's opening licks can be the Queen of Diamonds, activating subliminal instructions to take shots and scream. The second trick is even more...insidious. Somewhere between the washed-up pay phone by the overpass and the derelict ballroom on the boardwalk I began to feel a certain (shudder) fondness for New Jersey. What foul sorcery is this!?
The sleight of hand here is that the audience can be fooled into loving anything that either represents or is loved by a character they love. Transitivity. (You never would have given serious thought to a White Russian if not for the Dude.) So all the preceding brouhaha is just to make way for a new addition to our pantheon of beloved characters: Randy "The Ram" Robinson. A generation raised on 8-bit is bound to cheer for a battered mutt who still plays his own NES game.
The Ram is descended from a prestigious line of movie musclemen, each a type of hulking and preening animal who thoughtlessly mistreats the girl in his care but may nevertheless earn our sympathy for being dimly aware of his self-destructive nature and narrow future. This lineage can be traced to the boxer Jake La Motta from Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980), the carnival strong man Zampanò from Fellini's La Strada (1954), and the prizefighter Battling Burrows from Griffith's Broken Blossoms (1919). I expect to see Son of Ram in theaters around 2040.
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Susan — Hey! What're you watching? ...Only You? That's another Marisa Tomei movie, and you've seen that one too. What, do you have a thing for her?
George — Yeah, yeah. I have a thing for Marisa Tomei. Like she would ever go out with a short, stocky, bald man. Like that's her type. Huh. She's an Oscar winner. Besides, I don't even know her. It's not like anyone's trying to fix us up. Who, who would try and fix me up with Marisa Tomei?
Susan — What are you talking about?
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I believe that a movie can be REALLY REALLY GREAT... but making you actually liking??... New Jersey, I think I just can't imagine it.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, this post has to be destroyed!
Ahh!! I am in love with Marisa Tomei after the Wrestler !!! She is totally my kind of girl -- sad, strong, passionate but conflicted like everyone else.
ReplyDeleteRemember her brief pot-smoking scene in Four Rooms? She's always great.
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