AFTER his last commercially disastrous outing, director Darren Aronofsky must have had a tough time getting funding for a film about men in leotards acting in a spring-loaded square.

But Aronofsky knows how to tell a story of down-and-outs, and Mickey Rourke has been one for the past 25 years or so; together here, the pair orchestrate a terrifically gritty tale of a man barely maintaining his crumbling ’80s legend.

Rourke is Randy “The Ram” Robinson. An aging star of old-school professional wrestling, his life isn’t a ring of roses, and with an anniversary showdown approaching, his ticker isn’t tocking properly.

It’s a simple-enough story but its telling is magnificent.