New Review - 'Black Swan'

Black Swan - A
First of all, thank you for your patience as I finished up the semester... it's not a great idea to write reviews when papers are due. And for that reason, there will be a saturation of movie reviews in the coming days so I can catch up on the 10+ I have to write still. I thought I would start with one I just watched, and would recommend to EVERYONE.

Without further ado, I present to you Black Swan, but this isn't your grandmother's Swan Lake. This movie is a dark re-hashing of the Swan Lake narrative, using a creepy tone to set the stage for a dancer's 'descent into madness' (thank you CV for use of that phrase). Rick Groen of the Globe and Mail said it better than I can even put it, "Darren Aronofsky has madde one of those rare movies that gets right in your face and demands a response: Love me, hate me, just don't mess with Mister In-Between." He has hit the nail on the head there, there's a great possibility that some people won't like this movie because of it's psychological in your face attitude, you may be put off by the 3 minute Natalie Portman/Mila Kunis erotic scene (and that is my fair warning), but my argument to those is that Aronofsky presents the film and that provocative scene with such care and style that it's impossible to look away. As SP and I discussed immediately after the film, if you're sitting in the theater after 20 minutes and aren't liking the style and tone, you're in for a rough ride. There were plenty of elderly people at the theater, I'm sure expecting a sweet tale of Swan Lake, that were in for a rude awakening. The thing about this movie isn't that it will be loved by all, but rather that it will have such a dichotomous following. Whether you love it or you hate it, it's hard to find any flaws in the film.

Story - 10
Throughout the film you follow the story of Nina (Natalie Portman), a ballerina who wins the role of the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. The problem? She's the perfect technical dancer who embodies the White Swan, but lacks the emotion and rawness to portray the black swan in the ballet. The movie does so well at showing Nina's mental imbalance right from the get-go. As Nina gets further into the character of the Swan Queen, she feels as though everybody is out to get her. Throughout the whole film there is no allusion to who is good and who is bad. At different times I felt myself incensed at the over-controlling mother, or the fame-driven alternate (Mila Kunis), or even the chauvinistic dominating director (Vincent Cassel), yet throughout the film you see the possibility that Nina has concocted the whole conspiracy theory in her head. The movie is less about the mirroring of the Swan Lake plot in the movie, and more about the depths one person can sink to when uncertain of their own identity.

Genre Fulfillment - 10
This fills the boots of a psychological thriller with perfection. It's as if we are brought alongside Nina's journey from being a meek and shy white swan, to her transformation into the raw black swan. Aronofsky has overdramatized the insecurities we all feel about our inadequacies, and he has done so with spine-tingling directing. As I said above, this isn't your grandmother's swan lake, it's meant to take a new daring approach to the storyline and it does so with all the wonders a psycho-sexual-unnerving-creepy-elegant-beautiful movie should.

Characters - 5
There are only a handful of characters we are introduced to in depth, but each one is perfectly cast, and adds to the web-like melodrama of the story. Natalie Portman, like the queen her character portrays in the ballet, shows such a wide range of emotions. Her ability to display such a timid apprehension in the first half of the movie accentuates the dark, powerful black swan she becomes. Mila Kunis does really well in this serious role, and Vincent Cassel plays his part to a tee. The surprising turn in this film was from Barbara Hershey playing Nina's overbearing mother. I can't say much more than you never know if she's living out her own childhood dreams through Nina's dancing, or whether she's really concerned about where the role is taking her daughter. Characters - Great... Acting - Greater... Natalie Portman SHOULD (as of Dec. 18) win best actress.

Believability - 5
As SP said in his review here: http://skochscorner.wordpress.com/ ... Aw hell yes!

Filmmaking - 9.5
I love the idea of a story within a story. The swan lake plot is mirrored in the movie, and done with such talent. I also love a movie that has the balls to tell you exactly how the movie is going to end, then plays it out as if you had no idea what was going to happen. Black Swan does this! When Citizen Kane came out in 1941, it heralded a new line of thinking when it came to moviemaking; films used flashbacks to aide in plot progression. Flash forward to 2010, and Darren Aronofsky uses dream sequences to blur the line between reality and neurosis. Never once was I certain of what was real or one of Nina's self-dreamed fantasies. It was this blurring that really helped sell the story. Another feature to pay attention to is the use of mirrors, not unlike the last season of LOST, the characters are constantly confronted with themselves and often it's not simply their reflection staring back at them. Pay close attention to inanimate objects moving; things like pictures, paintings, tattoos and a host of other things help to showcase Nina's mental breakdown. The loss of a half point was for two reasons: a) I have a hard time giving a movie a perfect rating. b) 15 second scene near the end, it was just poorly done. But save for about 15 seconds this was the perfect movie (for me of course)

Enjoyment - 10
I had no preconceived notions as to what this movie would be like, and I left knowing that I needed to implore others to see this movie. For the last half hour I watched with a grin on my face at the marvel of moviemaking in front of me. This is a MUST SEE movie. So... go see it now!


Yuke-ann put it in the win column...

Black Swan = 4.95 out of 5 yukes


P.S. It probably won't win Best Picture because it could come across as unaccessible to some, it deserves one of the following four awards:
Best Director
Best Actress
Best Original Screenplay
Best Picture (if nothing else)