Park vs Landow

Salvatore Landow vs Aric Park (Movimus)

Movimus Wrestling produces the most beautiful wrestling videos in the world. Together the highly saturated colors, the taut physiques of the wrestlers, and the elegant motion of the camera encircling and swooping in on the action constitute artistry of a high caliber. That the content is real submission wrestling, not posing, gives the videos substance in addition to style. If I didn't also enjoy the rugged sounds of men grunting and muscle thumping against muscle, I might switch off the audio and use Satie's Gymnopédies as a soundtrack. It would work, though it might also be overkill, robbing athletic competition of its unpretentious dignity and turning it into kitsch.

This is the third Movimus match for Salvatore and Aric, their first against each other. Aric is heavier, but the weight advantage does not intimidate Salvatore, who, as the site's product description states, is ready to wrestle anyone. Like most wrestlers on the company's roster, Park and Landow are not messing around. They are earnest, even stoic, for the greater part of the contest, like Olympians, but the occasional smile assures us that they are having fun too. They look fantastic. Their muscles get harder and rounder as the struggle extends through five falls by submission. Their minimalist trunks do nothing to obstruct the view as muscle coils, binds, constricts, and stretches.

No other wrestling site gives me the sense of what it must have been like to meet at a gymnasium in ancient Athens or Sparta and lounge around the sandpit (arena), watching youths engage in one of the oldest and most revered contests known to man. As I have said once or twice already, specifically about Movimus, the effect of watching real wrestling is rather like watching a lit fireplace or fish swimming in an aquarium: calming, meditative, dreamy. But there's no erotic effect in watching bloodfin tetras or spiraling sparks. Here's where wrestling and Movimus have the edge for me because, frankly, I like some stiff with my relaxation.