Film: Black Swan

GENRE: Drama/Thriller
RATING: R for strong sexual content & disturbing violence
RUNTIME: 1hours and 48 minutes
STARRING: Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta) Mila Kunis (Book of Eli), Vincent Cassel (Ocean’s 12)
DIRECTOR: Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain)
WRITERS: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John McLaughlin (pretty much newcomers)
PLOT: Nina must learn to let herself go in order to play both the white and black swan but she is haunted by her rival and her mom.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 Give Natalie Portman the Oscar. She is riveting as an intense ballerina who strives to be perfect. The challenge of breaking down so honestly and all that ballet should give her some awards. I was blown away by her performance.
2 Anything to do with nails causes me to cringe. I hate the sound of nail cutting, nail filing and nails on a chalkboard. There were plenty of cringe-inducing moments in this film. I’m cringing just thinking about the split nails and such. Nails, however, aren’t the only disturbing images in this film. There are some pretty violent and shocking images both abrupt and sometimes sexual. The old people in the theatre were probably put off by the sexual content on the screen. It’s not for the faint of heart.
3 The other actresses give truly memorable, albeit disturbing performances. Barbara Hershey perfectly captures the controlling mother and Winona Ryder has a small but very dark role. Mila Kunis has been doing some great work lately; it’s hard to believe she was on That 70’s Show. Way to go ladies!
4 Talk about in your face. Aronofsky keeps the camera close up for the majority of the film. Whether Portman’s Nina is walking to the theatre or dancing, the camera shakily keeps you right with her.
5 There are a lot of mirrors in this film. It’s obviously used for thematic reasons but it is usually very difficult to shoot. Aronofsky does some amazing shots using the mirrors. Creepy but cool.

RECOMMENDATION: See it in theatres for Portman's performance
UPCOMING REVIEWS: The King’s Speech