My Movie Review: Black Swan

My Movie Review: Black Swan
4.5/5

Opening Statement: From the mind of Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler) comes a story about a woman named Nina Sayres (Natalie Portman) who is a die hard ballet dancer. She is a perfectionist, and when she is given the role as Swan Queen in the upcoming production of Swan Lake she begins getting nervous and psychologically messed up as she can't perfect her black swan routine. She begins getting distracted by a woman named Lily (Mila Kunis) who is an up-and-coming ballet dancer.


What's Good: The film borderlines perfection. Which the film slightly strays away from (makes some symbolic sense actually.) Right from the beginning we open to a malevolent, but insanely beautiful score from Clint Mansell the embodies the same chords of Swan Lake. We are introduced to Nina (played at a career high by Portman) who is an obsessive ballet dancer and a perfectionist. She lives with her mother (played by Barbra Hershey) who really has high hopes for her daughters success. The pressure is on, and we feel it as an audience to, when she almost loses the role of the lead in Swan Lake, but she starts developing a relationship with the director (played by Vincent Cassel) who finally assigns her a role.
                         Now that she has the big role, pressure starts to boil, especially when the director is displeased with her performance as the black swan. Very strange things start happening to Nina, she becomes a psychological mess. This film keeps us guessing, but not in a way that we are strapped in for an ultra-twist, in fact the ending borderlines predictable. It's more haunting than ever though. All in all I have to say with a handful of great performances from the ensemble (Portman in particular) and a nitemare-ish psychological plot, we are intrigued from the beginning. Aronofsky has one hell of a gift. Black Swan is the most artistically beautiful horror film ever made.


What's Bad: Not Much to say for this section. For what it is, it is perfect. Once again I have to say it's probably not a masterpiece though.


Oscar Possibilities: Portman should win Actress, Bening being her only competition. The film will get a BP nod, along with a possible director nod for Aronofsky (he is long overdue.) As far as the supporting cast i'd say the most likely is Kunis who recently received a Golden Globe nomination. We are also looking at Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, and I have my fingers crossed for Mansell's score.


Consensus: Black Swan embraces the dark side of the ballet art. It demonstrates the pressure and anxiety of life in the theater, only through a schizophrenic eye. Portman gives the performance of the year. Black Swan is gorgeous!