Black Swan.
This movie literally left me speechless. At the end I was just so blown away by what I had just witnessed. This movie is truly a visceral experience to behold. And not to mention it has one of the best performances by an actress in recent memory.
Natalie Portman plays Nina Sayers. A ballerina who wants to be the lead in Thomas Leroy’s (Vincent Cassel) production of Swan Lake. All whilst being cheered on by her creepy mother (Barbara Hershey) and meeting a new dancer named Lilly (Mila Kunis). The usual lead dancer, Beth (Winona Ryder) is getting to old and has to be replaced.
All the performances are fantastic. Natalie Portman has to win an oscar for this performance. It’s devastating. It really is quite the feat that she pulls off. Her dancing is beautiful, her acting is amazing and her literal and figural transformation is astounding.
The supporting cast really is just that, support for this stunning performance. Cassel is a great theater director who is hard on Nina even so much as being quite a dick, but its pushing her to put on a great performance. Barbara Hershey is terrifying as an over bearing mother who I seriously thought she was gonna lose her mind at any second. Mila Kunis is great as always playing that Mila Kunis role. And Winona Ryder scared the S out of me.
Which brings me to this. This movie is the scariest movie I’ve seen in theaters in a long time. I did not expect to be as creeped out as I was throughout the entire movie. Darren Aronofsky does such an amazing job of making this seem like just a normal dance movie and turn into a nightmare. I did not expect it to be as terrifying as it really was.
Speaking of Mr. Aronofsky. Wow. Such a great job directing this flick. This has more flair than The Wrestler, but you see some of the same moves in this. The always following Nina from behind not unlike The Ram in Wrestler. The incredibly realistic look to it. I can’t wait to see what he does with The Wolverine.
This is a beautiful movie with an incredible lead performance. This is truly a movie that has to be seen to believe. But not everyone should see it. It’s pretty sexually explicit at times and has a lot of bad language and just general creepiness that I think not everyone could handle.
As I was sitting there in the theater after this was over I just couldn’t get over how amazing this film was. It was so different than what I expected, and to be honest I have NO idea what I expected. But I loved it and really hope more people check it out.
I’m gonna give this a 9/10. Not a full 10 because at first I thought it was a generic dance flick. Now, granted, when it picks up, it REALLY picks up and even makes that first part better, but that’s what kept this movie from being perfect for me. That and how terrifying it was. That’s not really a reason to take away a point, I’m just a wuss.
-Todd
