Dir: Darren Aronofsky ( The Wrestler/Pi/Requiem For A Dream)
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Wynona Ryder, Vincent Cassel
This is not the typical film I would review for this site, But I just watched it last night and I thought it was so good that I needed to share my thoughts on this tremendous piece of cinematography. Nina(Natalie Portman) finally scores the role of a lifetime in being chosen to play the Swan Queen in her Ballet production teams version of Swan Lake. Upon receiving this news she begins to psychologically deteriorate while trying to reach inside herself to find a darker less refined style to suit the Black swan. Nina is a bit of a perfectionist and is very technical in her moves which the production director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) tells her she must change to portray the emotions of the two separate characters she will be portraying. Nina begins to feel threatened by a new comer to their group Lilly (Mila Kunis) and starts to think she is out for her role in the production. During Nina's fall from grace we are treated to several downright chilling moments and the viewer is left to question how much of these on goings are actually happening and what is essentially just in Nina's head.Everyone in this film plays their roles extraordinarily well and I can see an Oscar nod for Natalie Portman and Vincent Cassel easily for their performances. The cinematography for this film is all beautiful and allot of it reminded me of some of Dario Argento's early work like Suspiria and Opera. This film just goes to show that horror does not always have to be slash and kill and gore, although there is some gore to be seen here it is the transition from sweet perfectionist to evil queen of the dance for Nina that really is truly frightening. The main scene that got this movie so much publicity is a lesbian romp between Nina and Lily which I have to say if your gonna go lesbian in a film for shock value, this is how you do it, because the scene is erotic as can be, but my favorite racy moment is a masturbation scene featuring Natalie Portman in which dreams are made of.I had my doubts going into this film that I was gonna be bored due to the subject matter and the 2 hours plus runtime, But the film is paced so well it felt like it just flew by.Like many other films of this ilk we get a bit of a downer ending but that truly fit the somber mood of the entire story and I really cannot find anything to gripe about with this film. From beginning to end this one is a winner and all the actors brought something unique and eye catching to the forefront. As for the choreography you can tell that Portman in particular put her all into this role to prepare as she moves like a legitimate Ballerina with years of experience and leaves me wondering if there is anything this woman cannot do as a performer. Even the smaller co-star roles are played with so much passion it seems like everyone involved knew how awesome this film was going to turn out, Wynona Ryder in her small part as the star forced to step down for Nina was interesting and played well enough you feel the whole movie could have been about her and still been excellent.The only one who seemed miscast in this one was Mila Kunis and she really pulls through and solidifies her as a legitimate star in this role. So with all that said , Black Swan is a beautiful chilling film and Aronofsky once again delivers the goods. If this one does not receive any awards I would be surprised and downright disappointed because this is easily the best film I have seen in 2010.
Cast of characters: 10 out of 10
story:10 out of 10
Gore:6 out of 10
Nudity: N/A (But the sexiness of this film is undeniable)
Overall rating 9 out of 10 (although I cannot think of anything that would make this film better than it was because it is pretty damn flawless.)
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