Post by BloodyMonkeyZ on Jul 4, 2013 10:34:38 GMT -6
Natalie Portman plays a young woman whose life centers around ballet. Everything comes to a head for her life as she is given the opportunity to have the lead in Swan Lake. Doesn't sound like a horror movie to you? Trust me on this one. It may not have Freddy haunting your dreams or Jigsaw's diabolical traps, but Darren Aronofsky has given us a cerebral horror movie that will have you cringing.
Which is no surprise. That is what Aronofsky does. He creates movies that go places you would never expect. And this is no exception. Films I would compare this to in tone would be Audition and Donnie Darko. Like Audition, this movie is set in a real world. A visceral world that we can understand. Maybe we don't fully get the passion that drives Portman in her pursuit of perfection as a ballet star. She literally has sacrificed her life for it. We never hear how old she is, but the assumption is early to mid twenties. She lives with her mom in a situation that makes her seem more like a 6 year old. No aspect of her home life is her own. Her mother helps her dress, cuts her nails, feeds her as you would a young child.
Outside of the home, she doesn't fare much better. Everything in her life is ballet. Even the other students give her a bit of a wide berth. She doesn't socialize well and they can tell. The director of the ballet, Thomas, is such a massive man that his interactions with Portman make her seem even more like a child. At one point he places both hands on her cheeks and it reminded me of Jaws from Moonraker grabbing James Bond. Thomas has the power to crush any of the girls dreams within the ballet, but the image in that moment shows that he could just as easily crush her physically as well.
My comparison to Donnie Darko deals with the surreal quality. As things play out there are many moments where we see her skin practically rippling with goosebumps. A texture that is very unnatural and yet seems to be not just lurking beneath her skin bit bursting through. Thomas tells her that she needs to learn to let herself go in order to be the best she can be. As she follows his advice though we see that whatever is lurking beneath her skin has apparently only been held in check because she refused to let go. A surreal darkness that is pervasive and unavoidable. A transformation that goes beyond the imagination as she performs on opening night.
There is one other comparison I have from this. Mirrors. Although I think Mirrors 2 is a bit better of a comparison. Both were good, but Mirrors 2 had a bit more internal darkness that played out inside the mirrors. There are several scenes in this where that internal strife is seen reflected for her to see.
The Black Swan is a movie that has a tough hill to climb. Which is a shame because it deserves to be seen. I can hear a chorus of guys out there saying "No way am I going to go to a ballet movie." To them I say suck it up. Is it about ballet? Yeah. But it transcends being a ballet movie. And I actually heard women walking out from it saying "The first half was great and then it just got all weird." They need to suck it up too. But I have a little more sympathy for them. They may have been going into this expecting a ballet movie and they got quite a bit more. Like the guy on Springer who finds out his new girlfriend is really a guy. Some surprises are a bit hard to handle
This is a beautiful and dark film. A film that is easily worthy of the accolades it is receiving. And if you are a guy who is too macho to see a movie like this, I feel sorry for you.You don't know what you are missing. I have wanted to see this since it was released and kick myself that I waited as long as I did. I don't see many movies in the theater, but I may go back and see this one again. This movie get- 5 stars only because we never setup any precedent for exceeding 5 stars. Since I saw it January 1st, it seems anti-climactic to say it is the best movie I saw for the year. But it was the better than anything I saw in 2010. Matter of fact, I can't think of a movie I saw recently that tops this one.
Which is no surprise. That is what Aronofsky does. He creates movies that go places you would never expect. And this is no exception. Films I would compare this to in tone would be Audition and Donnie Darko. Like Audition, this movie is set in a real world. A visceral world that we can understand. Maybe we don't fully get the passion that drives Portman in her pursuit of perfection as a ballet star. She literally has sacrificed her life for it. We never hear how old she is, but the assumption is early to mid twenties. She lives with her mom in a situation that makes her seem more like a 6 year old. No aspect of her home life is her own. Her mother helps her dress, cuts her nails, feeds her as you would a young child.
Outside of the home, she doesn't fare much better. Everything in her life is ballet. Even the other students give her a bit of a wide berth. She doesn't socialize well and they can tell. The director of the ballet, Thomas, is such a massive man that his interactions with Portman make her seem even more like a child. At one point he places both hands on her cheeks and it reminded me of Jaws from Moonraker grabbing James Bond. Thomas has the power to crush any of the girls dreams within the ballet, but the image in that moment shows that he could just as easily crush her physically as well.
My comparison to Donnie Darko deals with the surreal quality. As things play out there are many moments where we see her skin practically rippling with goosebumps. A texture that is very unnatural and yet seems to be not just lurking beneath her skin bit bursting through. Thomas tells her that she needs to learn to let herself go in order to be the best she can be. As she follows his advice though we see that whatever is lurking beneath her skin has apparently only been held in check because she refused to let go. A surreal darkness that is pervasive and unavoidable. A transformation that goes beyond the imagination as she performs on opening night.
There is one other comparison I have from this. Mirrors. Although I think Mirrors 2 is a bit better of a comparison. Both were good, but Mirrors 2 had a bit more internal darkness that played out inside the mirrors. There are several scenes in this where that internal strife is seen reflected for her to see.
The Black Swan is a movie that has a tough hill to climb. Which is a shame because it deserves to be seen. I can hear a chorus of guys out there saying "No way am I going to go to a ballet movie." To them I say suck it up. Is it about ballet? Yeah. But it transcends being a ballet movie. And I actually heard women walking out from it saying "The first half was great and then it just got all weird." They need to suck it up too. But I have a little more sympathy for them. They may have been going into this expecting a ballet movie and they got quite a bit more. Like the guy on Springer who finds out his new girlfriend is really a guy. Some surprises are a bit hard to handle
This is a beautiful and dark film. A film that is easily worthy of the accolades it is receiving. And if you are a guy who is too macho to see a movie like this, I feel sorry for you.You don't know what you are missing. I have wanted to see this since it was released and kick myself that I waited as long as I did. I don't see many movies in the theater, but I may go back and see this one again. This movie get- 5 stars only because we never setup any precedent for exceeding 5 stars. Since I saw it January 1st, it seems anti-climactic to say it is the best movie I saw for the year. But it was the better than anything I saw in 2010. Matter of fact, I can't think of a movie I saw recently that tops this one.
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