For a long while now, I've been keeping all my ticket stubs, and today was no different. What was special, however, is that one decade ago today is when I first started doing this, on January 1st, 2014.
It's fitting then that the movie that caps this decade off for me is The Iron Claw. When I was first getting to take movies seriously as an artform, the inciting film for me was The Wrestler, a similarly heartbreaking tragedy about wrestling.
Since then, I've actually become a wrestling fan, and in that time since I've learned about the meat grinder the industry is, the one story that has always disturbed me deeply is that of the Von Erichs. I was very aware about the depths of the tragedy, so I thought that when I finally saw a movie about it, I'd be prepared. I truly was not.
I don't cry too often when I see movies, and even more rarely would I describe it as an ugly cry. The Iron Claw was an ugly, extended, messy cry. There's a specific line that really set me off, and I never really recovered by the start of the credits. This is especially in the context of knowing full well that several aspects of the story were cut for both time/pacing AND believablity reasons.
The cast is the real highlight here. Zac Efron and Holt McCallany are the best they've ever been, each playing men unable to express the emotions that are clearly controlling them. Jeremy Allen White is also phenomenal, making every frustration Kerry experiences feel soul rending. The real surprise, though, was Stanley Simons, who plays the real heart of the story. While not the focus, Mike is the first domino in the line of young men succumbing to the compounding disasters befalling the Von Erich family. Simons is game to match that level of tender innocence the story needed.
It should be obvious by now that I really, really, really liked this movie. A definite must watch.
