Black Swan - quick review (1 Viewer)

[Michael Elliott]

SPOILERS................YOU'VE BEEN WARNED


The aspect of not knowing is what I loved so much. I think "surreal" filmmakers, for the most part, often confuse themselves by trying to be too clever or trying to deliver some sort of nightmare that in the end makes no sense and are only weird so that the director can call himself a surrealist.

I thought the film had a wonderful structure and in my mini-review I stated that it was like a puzzle and if one piece was out of place then the entire structure would have fallen and broke like glass. I think the entire thing was simply a part of a trouble woman's mind. I think Roger Ebert made a good point in that when artists try to do something perfect it's usually at the cost of something else. In this film she might have gotten the ballet down perfect but in return she lost her mind and eventually life. I'm sure if Nina had to do it all over again then should would have given her life for this one big performance.

I'm not a fan of the ballet and I must admit that I have no interest in going to one so perhaps my opinion of Swan Lake is incorrect or simply doesn't matches what that production is about. I thought the structure of the film is like many other dramas in that it was about jealousy, fear, sexuality and of course coming out from behind your mom's shadow. Everything Portman's character goes through is connected to that White/Black Swan. I think in order for Portman to be able to do the Black side of things she must have broken her own fears and confront her relationship with the mother as well as her own sexuality. At the same time it was this jealousy that eventually cost her life as she thought she was killing the rival when she in fact was killing herself.


I'm a die-hard horror fan but I hate horror fans who try to find horror elements in any movie just to try and say the genre is better than it actually is. Your comments about the horror film struck me as being so true. I was somewhat shocked to see how dark the film was but I thought it actually did a lot better than most horror movies of the past couple decades. I wouldn't call it a horror film but the elements are certainly there but I think it was more psychological horror like what we saw in TAXI DRIVER. It's funny but I told my girlfriend after watching the movie that this was the best example of getting into someones mad mind since the Scorsese film.


The events in the film, I guess, are going to be up to the viewer. I've read a few reviews that felt Portman was possessed by the ballet and that the events really happened to her. I personally don't believe that aspect but I wouldn't put anyone down for believing it. I think all the events we saw were simply her losing her mind and I think it's hard to say what "images" one would see if they were actually spinning out of control like her character was. These haunting images, to me, were just her mind pushing her so that she could succeed at doing the Black Swan dance. Without losing her mind she simply would have just remained the White Swan and never gotten her greatness.

 

[Parker Clack]

I took away from this film that it is about seeing the world around the central character, as the pressure mounts, through the eyes of someone going insane.


Sort of reminded me of Sybil and the relationship she had with her mother and her resultant multiple personalities.


One thing that I noticed right away is how Portman's character goes from looking like a young child in the beginning to almost as old as her mother in the end. Portman's physical change is nothing short of amazing. If she doesn't get the Oscar for Best Actress this year I will be shocked and bummed at the same time.

 

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein

That's because, IMO, Darren Aronofski films are all pretense and showoffy directorial affectations. Many believe he is a great artiste, but I'm not convinced.

Natalie Portman deserves a Best Actress nod for this role.


That aspect of the film nobody can argue.


But the execution of events? What the hell was the Director thinking?

I didn't know what the hell was going on through most of the film --

whether the events being portrayed were real or not. In fact, I was

questioning if I was seeing a serious film or a cheap horror movie.

I think I agree with this assessment from Reelviews' James Berardinelli: "Black Swan is presented as a psychological thriller with a twist: the viewer's perspective is that of the lead character and her sanity is in doubt. As a result, the film's sense of reality is warped. Sorting fantasy, nightmare, and hallucination from what is real is likely to require multiple viewings and careful conjecture."


http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=2223

 

[Michael Elliott]

My girlfriend wanting to see this so we went to a showing today and I was rather shocked to see how packed it was. It's good to see a film like this doing ok box office and hearing what everyone thought after the movie was an even bigger blast.

As for me, I enjoyed the film even more this time. I could now pay closer attention to several items that I had missed the first time around including all sorts of stuff during the first 30-minutes. Previously I had enjoy the second half more but this time the first part really struck a nerve with me.

I think Hitch and Polanski would be proud of a film like this.

 

[Greg.K]

Natalie Portman gives a terrific performance as Nina, a ballerina striving for technical perfection but unable to "lose herself" in a role. (and she went all out for this role, losing 20 lbs to look practically anorexic for this film). Barbara Hershey and Mila Kunis are great in their supporting roles. But here I think Aranofsky cheated in some respects. In particular:


We're led to believe that Nina hallucinated the entire tryst with Lily - but the idea that whole lead up to that scene, including Lily following her from the bar & their taking the cab home were part of that hallucination too stretches credulity a bit too thin for my taste.


I thought the final act was terrific.


But overall, I think Shutter Island was the better psychological thriller of 2010.

 

[TravisR]

I caught this movie a couple days ago and I thought it was excellent. Natalie Portman has probably never given a better performance (and she's always good) and I've never seen Mila Kunis in a dramatic role but she's very good too. Darren Aronofsky made the best horror movie of the year.

 

[Citizen87645]

I finally saw this tonight, and congrats to Portman for the Golden Globe win. It's well deserved.



As much as I enjoyed the film, there's also a touch of disappointment in there. The metaphors were painted in rather broad strokes - broader than I expected - and the expositional scene where Thomas recounts the story of Swan Lake was FORESHADOWING 101. I suppose if you take the film as a horror piece, then maybe it's somewhat forgivable.


At the same time I did appreciate what it had to say about the creative process, about what it must take, what one must sacrifice, to have a breakthrough. Of course that theme is made all the more compelling by Portman's own level of commitment to the role. It's another case of life imitating art, just as it was with Aronofsky's previous film The Wrestler and its star Mickey Rourke.


I think my favorite moment of the film was the interaction between Nina and her mom as they are working on the toe shoes. We'd had a glimpse at the caliber of her mother's "art" and what we presume was the basis for her "career." It's never verbalized or made super obvious, but it's easy to assume that her mom has a tremendous amount of jealousy and resentment towards her daughter and her talent, and that is likely the source of her overbearing nature. Controlling her child is the only way she can have the upper hand against a person who is light years ahead of her creatively, even though that person has her own set of limitations.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Those minor quibbles went away for me on a second viewing, when I could just sit back and soak in all that directing/acting goodness on the screen.

 

[Citizen87645]

Yes, I imagine it would for me too. And overall it is very minor, and certainly not a deal breaker by any stretch. I suppose it's being a bit unfair as well, since we're talking the ballet here and its stories aren't exactly known for being subtle.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Most of my friends that viewed this film thought it was a good film with an excellent acting performance from Portman, but they care not to view it again because it's a depressing film.






Crawdaddy

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Here is [COLOR= black]a new [/COLOR]Black Swan VFX Demo Reel, highlighting the creation of the visual effects from the film:

 

[James_Kiang]

I would have to echo the sentiment that Robert and a few other have had. Natalie Portman gives a stellar performance but the movie itself did not pull me in enough to push it to the highest level of praise. It was a good film, I would probably rate it an 8, but it is not one I am compelled to watch again any time soon.

 

[Hanson]

I will say that this film was nothing like I expected, being neither an All About Eve redux nor an examination of the minutiae of the ballet world. I enjoyed the the ending, which was weird and very interesting. However, the first half to two thirds of the movie were stultifyingly boring. They worked too hard to make Portman's character a boring drip, and if you're going to go that broadly anyway, there's no need to waste 50 minutes setting it up. Because it wasted so much time plodding along, I wouldn't even consider it for a Best Of list.


The other cardinal sin was wasting the talents of Mila Kunis. This movie should have had more Mila Kunis.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Believe it or not, "Black Swan" just passed the $100 million mark for domestic gross. Not bad for a "ballerina" chick flick.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

For the life of me, I can't figure out why so many like this borderline awful film. It wasn't a good psychological drama - it was laughable MELOdrama.


The entire enterprise was pretentious beyond belief - and utterly absurd. I actually interpreted that the entire movie - or at least most of it - took place in Nina's head. Obviously, any interpretation sees it from her point of view, given her many hallucinations, but the movie threw out other signs. I don't think Thomas was a ballet director - I think he was a therapist. He often spoke in shrink-speak - like when he talked about her breakthrough and how she should work from there - and he even had an ink blot on the wall of his apartment.


If taken figuratively, the movie's still an over the top absurdity, but if taken more literally, it's just a mess, mostly because it was so unbelievable. Nina is so afraid of her own shadow that I don't believe she could've gotten a job at Wendy's, much less as a ballet dancer in a major NYC company. We're led to believe she's very talented, but to get that far in the business, she'd need more drive than that. She breaks into tears if a gerbil looks at her the wrong way; she clearly doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to make it in a competitive business.


But nonetheless, Thomas gives her the lead part because... well, because otherwise there wouldn't be a movie. Again, we hear of her talent but talent isn't the only requirement. Nina's such a push-over and a mouse that there's no way she'd even get a job with the company, much less land the lead.


Which leads me to the bizarre overpraising of Portman's performance. Except for about four minutes late in the film, Portman does little in the film other than cry, look like she's about to cry, or look like she just finished crying. Maybe this is the script's fault more than her own, but Nina is closer to the lead in a horror flick than a real character.


That's especially true since Aronofsky's idea of dramatic tension is to throw out more "boo" moments than a "Friday the 13th" movie. Every time you turn around, some nutty event happens and - surprise! - Nina starts to cry again.


Later, rinse, repeat. No character development - beyond the magical change that suddenly made Nina tough for a little while - and a lot of lame gross-out and/or fright moments.


Throughout most of the movie, I either sighed at the pretentious idiocy on screen or I laughed at it. I'm pretty sure the director sought neither emotion, but that was all I got out of this pretty darned awful movie...

 

[shahrukhcine]

It was an honest film, i'd in all probability rate it an eight, however it's not one i'm compelled to look at once more any time soon.



http://www.filmics.com/

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Colin,


I agree with you.


I did not like this movie at all other than being

impressed with Natalie's performance.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Ronald Epstein /forum/thread/306709/black-swan-quick-review/30#post_3783312

 

[TravisR]

To each their own. I loved it and think it's ridiculous that The King's Speech is probably going to win the Oscar over much better movies like Black Swan or The Social Network or Toy Story 3.

 

[Hanson]

Hey!


Don't forget about True Grit.