Black Swan is all the hype right now and I will admit to jumping onto that bandwagon with the agility of an African chimp, and snagging a screening pass from a friend. 41/2 hours later - coz that is how long my experience with the screening lasted - I walked out of the theater hungry and pissed (not the alcohol kind).
Basically Black Swan is a movie about a woman trapped in her little girl mind, her ballet slippers, bulimia and acute paranoid schizophrenia. Interesting concept when you think about it, right? And that is exactly my problem with this film, I was THINKING for 108 minutes. Which means, the film never drew me out of myself and into the story. I spent the whole time spectating, wondering, deducing but never experiencing.
Our heroine, Natalie Portman is flawless with her ballet pointes. But seriously, even Forrest Gump showed more emotional range and he was an idiot. Aronofsky presents us with a ballerina suffering from acute schizophrenia brought on by her unattainable desire to be perfect. And what does our character learn after a harrowing journey that fouette’s her into various forms of self-mutilation and severe paranoid schizophrenia? You mean, besides making a strong case for more mental health programs? Nina learns that she IS perfect? Character arc anyone?
There was a moment that would have made this movie great! That moment was the murder in the dressing room that inspired Nina's powerful performance as the Black Swan. If Aronofsky had allowed that moment to be real it would have been as powerful as the spinning top in Inception. Can you imagine, such beauty and perfection from ugliness? But alas, Aronofsky took that moment from us and dropped it into Nina's psychosis.
Was Black Swan a bad movie? No way! Darren Aronofsky is a genius and I’ll fight anyone who thinks otherwise.
Is it Oscar worthy? Go watch Inarritu’s Biutiful then ask yourself that question.
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