Director's Chair: Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky is, along with his leading man Mickey Rourke, is currently the toast of Hollywood with his new, and critically acclaimed, movie, The Wrestler.

Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a 1980s-era pro wrestler, has become a burnt-out shell of his former self. After he has a heart attack during a small-time match, a doctor tells him he could die if he fights again.

In an effort to build a new life, Robinson takes a job at a deli, moves in with an aging stripper and tries to build a relationship with her son. But the prospect of a rematch with his old nemesis, the Ayatollah, proves too tempting to resist, even if it means risking his life.

The film lit up festival audiences at the back end of last year and won over the critics as it went on to win the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, where is premiered.

It has since been a constant presence during the award season with Mickey Rourke scooping the Best Actor gong at the Golden Globes. The Best Actor Oscar is now a two horse race between him and Milk star Sean Penn.

Aronofsky made his directorial debut in 1998 with the psychological thriller Pi which follows the story of genius mathematician Max Cohen who is exploring the possible existence of discernible patterns in the stock market.

With the aid of Euclid, his home grown supercomputer, Max stumbles upon a bug that crashes his system and spits out a seemingly meaningless number. A knowledgeable friend gives him insight using the ancient game of Go and warns of the spiritual ramifications of powerful numbers.

A Hasidic cabalistic sect and representatives from an extremely powerful Wall Street firm then attempt to extract the number from him, by whatever means necessary, for their own ill-gotten gains.

The film, which was driven by it's black and white photography won Aronofsky the Best Director Award at the Sundance Film Festival, launching his career, and went on to pick a bit of a cult following.

Requiem for a Dream followed in 2000, an adaptation of Hubert Selby's 1968 novel, which cemented Aronofsky as one of the most powerful new filmmakers.

Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto) and Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly) are lovers in Brooklyn with dreams of setting up a small business and spending the rest of their lives in love, their version of the American dream. The two are also desperate heroin addicts, a compulsion that darkens their lives and leads Harry to repeatedly pawn his mother's television.

His mother, Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), is addicted to television, which is why she keeps replacing the stolen set. One day she receives a call from her favourite show, the surreal Tappy Tibbons Show, and learns that she has been selected to appear on an upcoming broadcast.

When she can't fit into her best red dress, her doctor prescribes diet pills (uppers), to which she swiftly and painfully becomes addicted.

However his next movie was not so well received splitting the critics as well as being a project that was plagued with issues.

The original cast included Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett but production on the film shut down after Pitt left the project. Aronofsky managed to get the film up and running again with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz taking over the lead roles.

The Fountain to the screen, principally because leading man Brad Pitt dropped out of the project. The complex tale is split into three different time periods, beginning in the 16th century, when a conquistador named Tomas (Hugh Jackman) strives to find the Tree of Life.

The second part of the story finds Jackman playing a Buddha-like character who zips through outer space and dreams of a woman named Izzi (Rachel Weisz). And the third part, which consumes most of the film's screen time, is set in the present day and sees Jackman playing a doctor named Tommy, who is married to the terminally-ill Izzi.

In this third section Tommy strives to find a cure for Izzi's brain tumour, and makes some progress after experimenting on a monkey with a substance discovered in a tree in South America. Meanwhile, Izzi has been writing a book that she calls The Fountain, but has left the final chapter for Tommy to write.

The film premiered at the 2006 Venice International Film Festival which received booing from some critics and a ten minute standing ovation from others. It struggled at the box office failing to make back it's $35 million budget.

Coming up for Aronofsky includes a remake of eighties favourite RoboCop and The Fighter, which will star Mark Wahlberg, and will follow the rise of Boston boxer "Irish" Micky Ward.

The Wrestler is out now

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw