If you've seen Darren Aronofsky's Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning film The Wrestler, you're likely aware that it features one of the smartest and most poignant, albeit brief, video game cameos in recent film.
The Wrestler, Robert D. Siegel's heart-wrenching tale of Randy "The Ram" Robinson-played by Mickey Rourke-a former professional wrestler far past his prime, is layered with metaphor. That includes metaphors like The Ram's foil Cassidy, an aging, single mother stripper—played by Marisa Tomei—as much a physical fantasy as Randy. Later, through Randy Robinson's doomed stint as part-time butcher-cum-performer, Siegel and Aronofsky drag the viewer through the titular wrestler's struggle with lost fame, estranged family, and the physical suffering that The Ram must endure.
But one scene, in which The Ram plays a fictional NES game with one of the neighborhood kids living in his trailer park, a boy who seems on the cusp of putting aside his hero worship of Randy "The Ram" Robinson, is perhaps most subtly affecting in its use of video game metaphor.
