'Black Swan' A Review

Devin posing with the poster after the movie, which she loved. For me...

In a word: Disappointing.

I don't know why exactly but I've come to expect alot from Darren Aronofsky. Maybe it's because I fit squarely in his target demographic 18-45 white middle-class artist type. So I feel like I should like him, I'm obligated to like him. He sucked me in with Pi and I feel like he's been riding that train ever since.

Pi: Amazing

Requiem For A Dream: Disturbing for disturbings sake, will never watch again.

The Fountain: Terrible. Laughably bad.

The Wrestler: OK, generally a disappointment.

(Spoilers)

Nina is an up-in-comer in a prestigious dance company in New York City. She gets taped to play the Swan Queen in their upcoming production of 'Swan Lake.' Thus begins her mental breakdown. The part requires her to play the innocent White Swan whose technicalities she can nail but also the sensuous Black Swan who Nina can't get in touch with. Natalie Portman plays Nina all one note, she's whiny, sniveling, and tentative for 99% of her performance. We only get the briefest of tastes of her darker side, her sexual side, her 'Black Swan.' Which is the TITLE OF THE MOVIE! There's about 15 seconds in the movie prior to the opening night performance where we get even the slightest hint that Nina has a back bone. Opening night comes, Nina rushes to the theater and when its time to dance the 'Black Swan' she kills. Absolutely kills. Up until then the on screen dancing was boring and Natalie Portman worrying about the dance moves came across more so then the actual dance moves. But this last dance is breathtaking and as she dances she starts to sprout feathers and morph into a black swan.

It's incredible...problem is its only 30 seconds long. We never get a real taste of Nina's duality until this moment, minutes before the film ends. Isn't it a film about duality? Up until then we've only been given one side and were suppose to be satisfied by numerous shots of mirrors and Natalie Portman seeing other Natalie Portmans dressed in black. There's no juice, there's no HEFT. Nina is two dimensional at best. We have no idea what drives her, we have no idea who she is, where she comes from, what her secrets are. All we know is that she's 'losing it' and thats where the movie stays. A place Aronofsky is comfortable weird for weirds sake, all surface no depth. Sorry Natalie I'm just not interested. In the supporting roles Nina's mother and Nina's dance instructor are both flat, one note repeated endlessly. We have no idea who these people are or what drives them. Mila Kunis is a shining star in this bleak landscape of 2D images. She jumps off the screen with desire and spark and wild abandon. She dances, sure, but she also lives and THATS what we want to see, thats the Black Swan not Natalie Portman needing her fucking eyebrows. Unfortunately Kunis is in the movie only briefly. Also I don't really like Vincent Cassel as the dance instructor, what with the yelling and the sexual harassment and all. But he does make a good point...

"PASSION NINA!"

An addition: Stephen King's Top 10 Movies of 2010

1. Let Me In

2. The Town

3. Inception

4. The Social Network

5. Takers

6. Kick-Ass

7. Splice

8. Monsters

9. Jackass 3D

10. Green Zone

'Splice' Stephen? Really?