Film: Black Swan
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Written By: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin (Screenplay)
Andres Heinz (Story)
Distributer: Fox Searchlight
Run Time: 1 hour 48 minutes
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
Disclaimer: The following review is written by somebody who is not generally a fan of horror movies (due to being a bit of a wuss) and has not seen many horror movies. Some of the following comments, therefore, may appear, in the eyes of the reader, slightly hyperbolic. It is advised to take all following comments with a pinch of salt.
I am about to attempt the task of putting my feelings of Black Swan into words. This is a challenge, however, because words can't really do justice to exactly how I felt watching this movie. This was one of those rare films where I walk out not just feeling satisfied. I come out feeling ecstatic, elated; thanking the heavens that I paid for a ticket to sit down and watch this particular movie and not any other (other such examples include Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and District 9; my films of the year for 2010 and 2009 respectively). To put it simply: Black Swan is absolutely fucking fantastic!
Nina Sayers (Portman) is a ballerina who has just been cast in the lead role of the ballet Swan Lake. She can perform the sweet and innocent White Swan to a tee, but she can't quite nail the sexy and darkly sensual Black Swan, much to the chagrin of the ballet's director (Cassel). However, a rival dancer, Lily (Kunis), is capable of playing the Black Swan. This causes Nina to worry that her position is being threatened and she slowly starts to go insane.
A lot of the praise for this film has been directed at Natalie Portman for her role as Nina. In one of the rare cases of critics not being wrong, this is absolutely deserved. Portman is stunning, completely and utterly nailing an insecure ballet dancer who simply wants to be perfect whilst being terrified of losing her new found status as a leading lady. Everything from the voice to the dancing to the reactions of her hallucinations is carefully thought about and controlled, totally fitting her character. Portman is going to win that Best Actress Oscar and she completely deserves it.
A performance of Natalie Portman's could've lead to a King's Speech situation where the leading actress (or actors, in that film's case) steals the thunder and makes everybody else look a bit rubbish. Thankfully, this is not the case. Mila Kunis (a.k.a. Meg from Family Guy) continues to prove why she is one of the best upcoming actresses in the industry, with a spellbinding turn as the sensuous bad girl Lily. Vincent Cassel is reliably excellent. And Barbara Hershey is phenomenal as Nina's pushy and controlling mother. Also, Winona Ryder is in this! It's always nice to see her in films isn't it?
I am going to talk about Aronofsky's fantastic direction (spoiler: it's fantastic), but I'm firstly going to talk about the camera work. No, really. I have not seen a film in recent memory where I've been as in awe of the camera work as I was here. The reason why is for just how close the camera stays to the action. There are almost no long shots or wide shots in this film; preferring instead to keep the camera as close to the action as possible. This helps add to the suffocating atmosphere that perpetuates the film and also keeps the action on screen intimate and intoxicating.
Now, for the direction. It's fantastic. My main reason is because of how intense the film is (I would like to apologise in advance right now for my upcoming abusage of the word "intense"). When the film proper kicks into gear (which is approximately 20 minutes in when Nina gets the part), it switches from a drama about ballet into a psychological thriller about being at the top and striving for perfection. However, unlike most of these sorts of films that I've seen, Black Swan doesn?t ramp up the tension through cheap jump scares. It does so through the atmosphere.
Aronofsky almost never lets the audience relax. Every time you think you're safe, he throws another creepy line or strange character response or unsettling hallucination to keep you on your toes. The sense of the weird and the sense of the strange pervades through every single minute of the movie and this keeps the intensity at a constant high. There are still jump scares, of course, but instead of being used to artificially raise the tension, they just compliment it instead. After all, there's only so long you can keep the audience thinking something terrifying is going to happen without delivering on it.
If I could've gotten away with it, this review would have just bought a ticket for this film for you and forced you to watch it. Putting Black Swan into words is just so hard. Not just because of how great it is, but also because of how hard it is to talk about it without spoiling one of the best, weirdest and most intense third acts I have ever seen. It ramps up everything, goes completely off the rails and climaxes by posing the question "How far can a performer go for their art before it consumes them?"
To put it simply; if you are a fan of quality cinema in any way shape or form, you need to see Black Swan. See it for the wonderful direction. See it for the beautiful cinematography. See it for the excellent music. See it for the actress finally living up to her potential. See it for a psychological thriller/horror that places atmosphere over cheap jump scares. See it for the third act that goes places you would never even dream of. See it for THAT scene, if you have to (you know what I'm talking about). Just, whatever you do, see Black Swan!
5 out of 5.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Written By: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin (Screenplay)
Andres Heinz (Story)
Distributer: Fox Searchlight
Run Time: 1 hour 48 minutes
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
Disclaimer: The following review is written by somebody who is not generally a fan of horror movies (due to being a bit of a wuss) and has not seen many horror movies. Some of the following comments, therefore, may appear, in the eyes of the reader, slightly hyperbolic. It is advised to take all following comments with a pinch of salt.
I am about to attempt the task of putting my feelings of Black Swan into words. This is a challenge, however, because words can't really do justice to exactly how I felt watching this movie. This was one of those rare films where I walk out not just feeling satisfied. I come out feeling ecstatic, elated; thanking the heavens that I paid for a ticket to sit down and watch this particular movie and not any other (other such examples include Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and District 9; my films of the year for 2010 and 2009 respectively). To put it simply: Black Swan is absolutely fucking fantastic!
Nina Sayers (Portman) is a ballerina who has just been cast in the lead role of the ballet Swan Lake. She can perform the sweet and innocent White Swan to a tee, but she can't quite nail the sexy and darkly sensual Black Swan, much to the chagrin of the ballet's director (Cassel). However, a rival dancer, Lily (Kunis), is capable of playing the Black Swan. This causes Nina to worry that her position is being threatened and she slowly starts to go insane.
A lot of the praise for this film has been directed at Natalie Portman for her role as Nina. In one of the rare cases of critics not being wrong, this is absolutely deserved. Portman is stunning, completely and utterly nailing an insecure ballet dancer who simply wants to be perfect whilst being terrified of losing her new found status as a leading lady. Everything from the voice to the dancing to the reactions of her hallucinations is carefully thought about and controlled, totally fitting her character. Portman is going to win that Best Actress Oscar and she completely deserves it.
A performance of Natalie Portman's could've lead to a King's Speech situation where the leading actress (or actors, in that film's case) steals the thunder and makes everybody else look a bit rubbish. Thankfully, this is not the case. Mila Kunis (a.k.a. Meg from Family Guy) continues to prove why she is one of the best upcoming actresses in the industry, with a spellbinding turn as the sensuous bad girl Lily. Vincent Cassel is reliably excellent. And Barbara Hershey is phenomenal as Nina's pushy and controlling mother. Also, Winona Ryder is in this! It's always nice to see her in films isn't it?
I am going to talk about Aronofsky's fantastic direction (spoiler: it's fantastic), but I'm firstly going to talk about the camera work. No, really. I have not seen a film in recent memory where I've been as in awe of the camera work as I was here. The reason why is for just how close the camera stays to the action. There are almost no long shots or wide shots in this film; preferring instead to keep the camera as close to the action as possible. This helps add to the suffocating atmosphere that perpetuates the film and also keeps the action on screen intimate and intoxicating.
Now, for the direction. It's fantastic. My main reason is because of how intense the film is (I would like to apologise in advance right now for my upcoming abusage of the word "intense"). When the film proper kicks into gear (which is approximately 20 minutes in when Nina gets the part), it switches from a drama about ballet into a psychological thriller about being at the top and striving for perfection. However, unlike most of these sorts of films that I've seen, Black Swan doesn?t ramp up the tension through cheap jump scares. It does so through the atmosphere.
Aronofsky almost never lets the audience relax. Every time you think you're safe, he throws another creepy line or strange character response or unsettling hallucination to keep you on your toes. The sense of the weird and the sense of the strange pervades through every single minute of the movie and this keeps the intensity at a constant high. There are still jump scares, of course, but instead of being used to artificially raise the tension, they just compliment it instead. After all, there's only so long you can keep the audience thinking something terrifying is going to happen without delivering on it.
If I could've gotten away with it, this review would have just bought a ticket for this film for you and forced you to watch it. Putting Black Swan into words is just so hard. Not just because of how great it is, but also because of how hard it is to talk about it without spoiling one of the best, weirdest and most intense third acts I have ever seen. It ramps up everything, goes completely off the rails and climaxes by posing the question "How far can a performer go for their art before it consumes them?"
To put it simply; if you are a fan of quality cinema in any way shape or form, you need to see Black Swan. See it for the wonderful direction. See it for the beautiful cinematography. See it for the excellent music. See it for the actress finally living up to her potential. See it for a psychological thriller/horror that places atmosphere over cheap jump scares. See it for the third act that goes places you would never even dream of. See it for THAT scene, if you have to (you know what I'm talking about). Just, whatever you do, see Black Swan!
5 out of 5.
