Visitors Review

apathy-x (2012-05-25 16:55)

The haters are wrong, Black Swan is brilliant

What can I honestly say about Black Swan, the film that swept audiencesaway last year, that hasn't already been said? There is very little forme to formulate in this review, other than my opinion. My opinion is:this film is excellent and those who dislike it are pretentiousart-house snobs whom tend to enjoy anything French. I have nodisrespect toward art-house, avant garde cinema, but I do not turn mynose up because of this. I accept anything on the basis of whether ornot I liked it or not, not whether it's regarded as one of the finestfilms of all time. By the same token, I don't enjoy modern dayblockbusters either (Eww, Inception). I dislike the majority of theAFI's lists. How can they say the definitive greatest films of alltime? You just can't summarize 100 amazing films, because it'ssubjective. Black Swan, however, is generally a great film and issurely going to go down as one of the greats, and that's well... great. The film is excellent, with some stunning performances and absolutelyexcellent cinematography. It really is stunning to look at, even withall that (intentional) grain. An absolute tour-de-force. Highlyrecommend.

kluismans (2012-05-25 03:30)

a real disappointment after the brilliant 'wrestler' i expected more

this movie was a huge disappointment. the red shoes is one of myfavourite films and a good film about the ballet is well over due. iloved 'the wrestler' again an extraordinary and tense movie, and so ihad high hopes of 'black swan'.i could not have been more let down. the first and i suppose forgivablefailure in the film was the poor dancing of natalie portman. the redshoes was fortunate in that it could rely upon the prima ballerinaskills of moira shearer. natalie portman is no prima ballerina, noballerina at all in fact and this spoilt much that could have beenwondrous.but natalie portman can act, and she acts her socks off in this,however, with what material. the character is meant to lose her sanitygradually and sink into a hallucinatory and dark world of her ownimagining. and that's just it, i found the world described in herthoughts totally uninteresting as dreams actually are for the mostpart. i found it difficult to care about the narrative which followedso much of what happened inside someone's head. so what that nina stabsto death, lilly, her fellow dancer, when a few minutes later thecolleague knocks on her door fit as a fiddle. yeah this proves thatnina is nuts but it also dilutes the story. anything can happen, kingkong can appear, he can destroy the whole damn lot of them, but sowhat. its all just a dream and when we wake up, its gone - puff.there is much else to criticise. it was a film of ideas, but theseideas were not particularly intelligently explored. consider the ratherlame and clichéd analysis of a young woman's sexuality, the verydeliberate contrast between the virgin and the whore and the absurdfinale of the young dancer's perfect performance and her insistence onher own death to complete it. i ask you.anyway in sum this film doesn't deserve to air the same breath as thered shoes or the wrestler.

PopcornJury (2012-05-24 10:04)

Quite possibly my most anticipated of the year, Black Swan let me down with it's dark, difficult, and absurd downward spiral. Am I impressed? Yes. Am I enthralled? No.

Black Swan is not the movie most people think it is. Whenever the filmis brought up in casual conversation, it's often referred to as themovie about ballet or the new Natalie Portman movie about a ballerina.While ballet provides the backdrop for the film, this is not a filmabout ballet. This is a film about the infinite pursuit of perfection,the intense desire to succeed, and the extremely dark places our mindcan go when something becomes an obsession.Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers, a ballerina in a NewYork City ballet company. The company is getting ready to stage a newrevival of Swan Lake, a contemporary classic in which a girl is turnedinto a swan by an evil sorcerers curse. Where in the original, the girlis broken from the spell when she finds a prince who will set her free,in this revival, the prince falls in love with the wrong swan, theblack swan, ultimately leading to the death of the white. The twist? Inthis revival, the dancer selected as the Swan Queen needs to play boththe white swan and the black swan, a role that on one hand requirespurity and perfection, while the other requires sexuality and a senseof intense passion. Does Nina Sayers have both? That's the centraltheme to this story as the rest of the film progresses.In his review for Black Swan, Roger Ebert writes, "Darren Aronofsky's'Black Swan' is a full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity,gloriously and darkly absurd." With this statement, I couldn't agreemore. This film is all out warfare on its central character of NinaSayers. It is extremely dark, and often at times, as Ebert States,completely absurd. There were moments when I knew what was coming nextand still had to look away. There were moments when I wanted to screamat the screen and say "Why is this happening…please pull yourselftogether!" I don't know whether to praise the film for being so "outthere" or to criticize it for going too far. It's an intriguing film,but I didn't once enjoy it. It's beautiful but completelyuncomfortable, and it couldn't be further from what I think everyaverage, everyday film-goer is expecting.If there's one reason to see this film, other than to simply witnessthe insanity, it's for the performance of Natalie Portman. In thisrole, she's less of an actress and more of a true performer. She'sfeatured in every scene of the film, every shot. She trained for10-months to prepare for her role in this film and it shows as she isnot simply a stand in in any of the ballet scenes, she is a literalballerina. She weighs what appears to be under 90 lbs. exhibits thepurest of pure and the darkest of dark. She literally transforms fromwhite to black, sane to insane, shining to stark. It is my most sincereprediction that she will win an Oscar for this performance, andregardless of the film itself, I would consider it well deserved.Black Swan is an evil movie, more disturbing than most films I've seenrecently. It's a horror film and a thriller, hidden beautifully underthe disguise of a contemporary ballet. Is it worthy of the criticalacclaim it's garnering nationwide since it's initial limited release?As an art form, I'd say yes. As a source quality entertainment, I'd sayno. Black Swan is the equivalent of watching a straight A student turninto a down and out junkie. Just because the film is award-winning,doesn't mean it's enjoyable. Quite possibly my most anticipated of theyear, Black Swan let me down with it's dark, difficult, and absurddownward spiral. Am I impressed? Yes. Am I enthralled? No.Michael Buffa Editor, Popcorn Jury http://www.popcornjury.com

jatrudel (2012-05-24 02:32)

A Black Swan for the Birdbrained

Empty and vacuous writing, directing and acting; those are the kinderwords I can summon twenty-four hours after viewing this POS. Hats offto the costume designer, and to the casting agent who booked thatmagnificent older ballet instructor. I promise to go back and retrieveher name for this review before I'm finished. They made it somewhatredeeming in a couple of cameos, however briefly.Portman was lacking in the lead role. For any one of you who haveexperienced the aura surrounding a prima ballerina, then you know ofwhat I speak. There is an elegance about them that transcends allcultural boundaries, a sense of grace divine if you will. Portman didnothing to present a case for herself. The Black Swan/White swandoppelganger had no believability and this viewer never allowed himselfto become invested in this cartoonish melodrama.This movie is the definition of pornography. As Justice Potter Stewartonce said, "I'll know it when I see it." It lacked any shred ofhumanity. It strove for mystery and left the audience pining for thefinal credits. It was written with unskilled naivety, using passionlesscharacters to tell repeatedly how they felt while telegraphing theiractions.This reminded me of a movie from the sixties called Elvira Madiganwherein the director tried to incorporate a tragic love story aroundone of Mozart's piano concertos. Much like that movie, this was afailed attempt at achieving recognition by association with aphenomenal work of art, Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.Oh, yes, the dance mistress I believe was Marina Stavitskaya, a formerRussian prima ballerina herself who teaches in NYC now. Look up theManhattan Youth Ballet and on their website you will find her picture.One glimpse and you'll know what I meant about aura.

Mayur Baruah (2012-05-22 17:55)

A timeless & poignant thriller that is almost nonchalant in manner !!!

After an incredibly inexplicable wait, "Black Swan" finally saw thelight of the day here in Malaysian theaters and I could not have missedit for the world. As a religion, I queued up infront of the Box Office,where I represented the first patron of the day and the theater barely1/3rd filled, made it to the first show on a Saturday morning. With thelarge portion of the next 2 hours spent at the awe of what Iexperienced, I could finally sum up the pieces of my blown out mind asI sit to write this piece.3 specific names associated with the premise meant; it tagged alongitself the rather heavyweight of all downers some like to call"expectations". French film giant Vincent Cassel, Natalie Portman andDarren Aaronofsky who most recently was celebrated for his violent yetheart breaking projection and Mickey Rourke's comeback vehicle "TheWrestler". Add to that 5 Oscar noms, 3 of which are for Best LeadingActress (Portman), Best Picture and Best Director and You have Yourselfa list of sorts, that pretty much dictates to You why You should spenda well earned weekend morning inside the theaters.Black Swan is a fairly straight forward story of a ballet dancer andher evolution into a foray She was particularly destined to fail at.Thus it brings along her struggle, fights within her boundaries,reasons and contradicting perspective of pretty much everything She wasalways led to believe. Throw in some exceptionally well writtencharacters, in the form of her Mom (Baraba Hershey), Mentor (Cassel),Peer (Mila Kunis) and Predecessor (Winona Ryder) around the protagonistthat helps her development and along with the eventual narration of thestory. All support staff of the production and the one at the helm ofall affairs should be given special mention for building a rare moodthat aggravated the tension and only added to the crescendo of climaxbuilt with a rare but dedicated eye for soul. That for me managed to dowhat no feature film has been able to do in the past few months. I sheda tear at the climax for it was that epic height that one achieves,specially in creative spheres after weeks, months and years of inspiredbut relentless and mostly fruitless perseverance.Quite fittingly the movie ends on a deafening sound of a hair raisinground of applause by an auditorium filled with patrons who witnessedone of the finest renditions of the "done to death" opera "Swan Lake"because only they knew what they had experienced was both rare andtimeless. Sadly the same cannot be said of the theater I watched themovie in, but as lights came on and credits rolled, I rose on mytrembled feet and my heart swelled with the sense of fulfillment only a35mm story can bring to me. And that's just how I would love to spendall my Saturday mornings for the rest of my life !!!Highly Recommended

TheHrunting (2012-05-22 10:14)

What it's cracked up to be

Like the "The Wrestler," this is a deeply woven character study thatpaces as a dark drama with a young woman named Nina (Natalie Portman)at the center attempting to push herself at the expense of personalrelationships and her own physicalities when a once and a life timerole comes her way. You get an intimate look at the behind the scenesof a ballet dancer, from routine stretches, make-up, feet taping,auditions, music rehearsals, to the make-it-or-break-it competitiveinner circle that surrounds it. The bigger the role, it's stress andthen some. Some have the strength of character to make it happen, whileothers let the make-believe character take over too much of theirpersonal lives.Nina's self-conscious and emotionally fragile when confrontation andcriticisms come speeding at her. She ducks, hides and is afraid toexpress how she really feels in front of others with the exception ofher live-at-home mother who is a shoulder to cry on but isoverprotective of her to the world at large. To Nina, the world isBallet and nothing more. It's on her mind when waking in the morning toconversations on the phone and when meeting outsiders. She's a womanwho's partly still a little girl due to her tunnel vision and thiscauses her to cower away and misinterpret actual meanings as somethingelse. She was riding on a thin slope to begin with and now with therole of Swan Queen--where she has to pull off both of the opposites ofWhite Swan and Black Swan on the same stage when it's normally justone--being presented to her she loses all perspective and starts toslowly dream up and hallucinate.Mila Kunis plays Lily, which represents a wild card amongst theconformity that usually comes from the traditional background of stagedancing. She's the rebellious, spontaneous one that's able to reboundfrom the unexpected. Nina is a perfectionist who practiced exclusivelyfor the role of the delicate White Swan and now that she has to learnhow to also play the dark and seductive Black Swan without a hitch inbetween characters, and so she starts to look at Lily's temperamentalpersonality as both an inspiration and a threat due to the Black Swancoming to her naturally instead. Winona Ryder's character Beth--who wasa former lead who stepped down--was impressionable to Nina but now cansee the after effects of how much it takes a toll. Though at that pointshe might have traveled too deep on a downward spiral to turn around."Black Swan" takes an artful, niche subject and transforms a darkerlight onto it that outsiders can relate to. There's no glamor here andyou got to wonder if anybody is having fun or they're just doing itcompulsively due to losing the spark but still having the talent leftover. It uses ballet as a backdrop for a character expose and howsomething can be taken so far without seeing the forest through thetrees. With the exception of a few exaggerated hallucinations that nailthe point home, the film was subtle and not so direct, though withoutbeing vague either due to its progressive nature; a balance was struckwithout analyzing the character like a garden varietylay-down-on-the-couch shrink session. But as an unhealthy breakdownthat a viewer can see unfolding before their worrying eyes. The flow isgradual, the cinematography only comes with so many effects compared toother modern pictures, and the traditional stage music is frequentlyused to get the feel and atmosphere of the world they've encapsulatedyou in. This eventually builds up to a thrilling finale to show thefinal act of lost innocence during the big opening night thateveryone's been anticipating.

Muffi (2012-05-21 16:07)

Weak Fight Club inspired movie.

Seems like a weak and predictable attempt at going for a Fight Clublike result. Storyline is totally predictable and unoriginal. NataliePortman is well, but not astonishing and losing weight or learning someballet doesn't make up for poor character construction and really justbeing herself throughout the movie. The directing is very poor,severely wanting steady-cam for the first 15 minutes or so, and totallymissing glorious beauty factor that should be there for any greatballet inspired movie, having only a few truly beautiful scenes. Comesout as disturbed and not disturbing, unnecessarily violent and notstrong, cheap instead of sensual. As some others have said a lamepseudo-thriller/horror movie attempting to go by as an art movie. Growstowards the ending, but predictability and lack of good art directionreally ruins the moment. A true disappointment and a waste of money,especially considering the great reviews it's been having. Anotherexample of movie industry and critics going in the opposite directionof what good film making is supposed to be, choosing weird over good,disturbed over moving, appearance over greatness. Goes straight to thelist of movies I would rather not have wasted my time on.

John DeSando (2012-05-21 00:36)

One of the best of 2010

Erica (Barbara Hershey): What happened to my sweet girl? Nina (NataliePortman): She's gone!In auteur Darron Aronofsky's Black Swan, the Swan Queen (Portman) is"gone" even before she's pegged for the lead in Swan Lake. In the bestMethod Acting spirit, she becomes like the Black Swan because the WhiteSwan is too easy.This is the most melodramatic film of 2010. This is the best actress(Portman) of 2010. This is the best director of 2010. But this may notbe the best film of 2010 because of the ease with which it depresseswith the over-the-top dramatic conflict between the two poles ofinnocence and experience, good and evil. It doesn't have the wit andrelative subtlety of All about Eve, a film also about female ambition,nor does it have the relative grace of The Red Shoes (1948), a balletfilm to which this must be compared.Aronofsky's camera twirls like a ballerina and tracks the star withback shots that become too obvious not to notice. The close-ups of Ninaare as constant as in any film with Angelina Jolie, and after a while,enough already. Yet the director catches the frenetic pace of rehearsalwith that movement; he also captures the doppelganger of Nina's dualityby framing multiple shots through mirrors and reflecting water. Afterawhile, enough already.There can never be enough of good acting, and this film has a surfeit.Besides Portman's Oscar-worthy performance, Vincent Cassell playsartistic director Thomas Leroy with a genial malevolence that takes theclassic impresario in Red Shoes, Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), to anew level of Machiavelli, or Pygmalion, if you will. Barbara Hershey asNina's creepily smothering, former ballerina mother effectively keepsFreud at the forefront. Mila Kunis as Nina's rival has an earthinessthat contrasts vividly with the other uptight ballerinas.Black Swan can also be easily seen as a metaphor for the obsessionnecessary for any great performer. Nina's descent into madness can benothing less than the natural outcome of greatness achieved at thesacrifice of one's personal freedom and sanity. Despite the flourishesof this hyper drama, Aronofsky has achieved the greatness also in hisfilm: It's not the rude world of his Wrestler with Mickey Rourke alsopicking at his flesh, but the close up and personal view of anachieving, troubled performer is the same.Nina: "I had the craziest dream last night about a girl who has turnedinto a swan, but her prince falls for the wrong girl and she killsherself.'

(2012-05-21 03:35)

Curiously Disappointed

Black Swan was a very strange movie-going experience for me. I was moderately interested in what was going on during the whole duration of the film & never felt bored...yet, I left the theater not really "liking" the movie. I felt that Aronofsky shot the film beautifully & the performances were mostly good. However, there were several things going on that just annoyed the hell out of me. Aronofsky's seamless transitions from "reality" to "delusion" felt very gimmicky like his sole purpose was to trick the audience rather than further the development of Portman's Nina. Speaking of Nina, I found the character incredibly one-dimensional. Yep, we get it: she's an repressed obsessive nut job who loves ballet dancing. That's all her character is or will ever be in the context of this film & that's laid out for us in the first 20 minutes of the film. The remainder of her story is just flogging a dead horse. Every person in the audience knew that she would eventually "find her dark side" when LeRoy goaded her about being too innocent during the audition. And could the character be more insipid??? I just wanted to smack her at least a dozen times. She needed a lot more moments like the drunk scene, which is when I thought Portman was at her best here. Kunis was fair as Lily. Hershey was acceptable as the mother. Again, the development of these characters was only hinted at just enough, but never were they allowed to be fully explored. The one character/performance I thought was really good was Cassel as LeRoy. I thought he nailed the part, deftly shifting between motivator & critic, friend & foe. On the whole, I can't say I hated this movie, but it (and Portman's performance) certainly did not live up to the hype.

allegraconsulting (2012-05-20 11:23)

good setting shame about the movie

I have to say it was a total let down after all the hype. "Black Swan"has all the ingredients but the final mix was disappointing. I agreewith one of the other reviewers that the audience is "spoon-fed" thehorror and everything is so obvious from the beginning. There's no realpsychological challenge or thrill, it was too superficial to be aserious portrayal of someone's descent into madness. In fact it becameplain silly at times and the audience in my cinema began to giggle andlaugh, which I found myself doing also towards the end.Artistically it is pleasant enough and the costumes were superb.Despitereviews to the contrary, I don't agree that the actors were the bestchoice. I think that Natalie Portman is too one dimensional and blandfor the part and Barbara Hershey - an odd choice - in a role too bigfor her. By far Mila Kunis as Lily was the only believable presence whogave an outstanding and authentic performance.

(2012-05-19 17:02)

OMG, what?!?

I can't believe this movie won anything! I was so looking forward to seeing it after all of the wonderful reviews and the awards. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations at all. It was odd and disjointed, and the acting (with the exception of Barbara Hershey and Mila Kunis, and whoever the actress is that coaches Natalie Portman in the "swan" movements) was horrendous. I'd never seen Ms. Portman in anything. Based on this movie, I think she has to be one of the worst actresses I've ever seen. Also, the use of the f-word seemed so forced and artificial, as though it was simply put into the script because someone thought that audiences just expect it in films; and some of the other lines seemed to have been added only for their supposed shock value. The club/drug scene was one of the most bizarre things I've seen and didn't add any value at all to the movie. Finally, some of the sound effects are ridiculous, really laughable. Just an overall disappointment and waste of money.UPDATE: Since I continued to hear how wonderful it was, I decided to give it another try (and another and another), thinking that perhaps I'd been too harsh and had missed something somehow. However, the more I watched it the more awful I thought it was. Then I watched a story on 20/20 about it, and became even more convinced it was garbage. Turns out the main reason Natalie Portman won an Oscar for her role was because the Academy voters (and the rest of the world) were led to believe that she did most/all of the dancing herself, which is a lie, and if they'd known she didn't they wouldn't have voted for her in the first place since the dancing was such a huge part of the role. Now I'm thoroughly disgusted with the whole thing and am throwing it in the trash where it belongs.

IMDB_Vits (2012-05-19 15:01)

Shouldn't it be "African American SWAN"?No,because that would be racist(*****/*****).

Starring:Natalie Portman as the dancer who wants to play the BLACKSWAN.Most people usually expect to feel the same emotions that thecharacters in order to rate the performances.Natalie Portman doesn'treach that level,but she doesn't have to.The way she goes through thesame metamorphosis NINA does is brilliant.The idea started at the same time PI and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM weremade.The movie clearly has the same fast thrilling editing,except thisone will really prevent you from breathing.Also,unlike PI,thesurrealism wasn't that big.It was well-balanced with the narrativestructure and the result has both coherence and ambiguity.It was originally going to be mixed with the plot of THE WRESTLER intoone movie.That explains the iconic shot of the back of the maincharacter's head while he/she walks.That movie's biggest flaw was therepeated story.This one has also a repeated story in essence.But at thesame time the movie's the main example that execution is what matters.So what is the problem with this movie?The symbolism is a little tooobvious.Also,the plot is a little melodramatic.In fact,the whole scriptwas a manual on how to direct the movie.But what surreal movie scriptisn't? Grades:A in the U.S. and 6,5 in Chile.

(2012-05-19 14:39)

Great acting vehicle but . . .

spoiler warning :that ending sucks, truly sucks.... with an abdominal wound like that, a ballerina manages to dance the entire black swan routine and the follow-up finale before she collapses from pain, or starts to bleed profusely, never mind expire because of a loss of blood? I mean come now !!A far more realistic ending would have seen out a fight between her and her imaginary rival only to find, at the end of her dancing tour de force, that it was her domineering mother she had stabbed to death.

billcr12 (2012-05-18 18:50)

Overrated and a whining Portman

Natalie Portman whines her way through almost two hours of neurotic,delusional, and narcissistic behavior which somehow landed her anAcademy Award. The golden statuette was misplaced; it was stolen fromHalee Steinfeld, who was the heart and soul of True Grit. Back to the ridiculous saga of a ballerina, Nina(Portman), who liveswith her overbearing mother, Erica(Barbara Hershey), a former dancerwho controls her daughter like a puppet. Nina competes for the lead role in Swan Lake with Lily(Mila Kunis) whothe director praises for being uninhibited, compared with the uptightNina. She is told to loosen up by having sex, and so the frigid littleprincess goes home and masturbates. Later on, we are subjected to atame and ridiculous lesbian scene with Portman and Kunis; and it headsdownhill to its asinine ending.Director Darren Aronofsky is 0 for 2 in my book; The Wrestler being theother contrived nonsense.

itamarscomix (2012-05-18 02:01)

Heavy-handed

Gratuitous and heavy-handed. It's not that it's without its merit -it's very impressive visually, and a powerful, intense atmosphere iskept throughout. The performances are all terrific too, especially asmall but powerful and surprising turn from Winona Ryder. But the plotis predictable and pointless, and the film feels like it's trying waytoo hard to shock and to create discomfort.None of which is Darren Aronofsky's fault - his directorial work isengrossing and original, and he's still in my book as one of the mostpromising directors of our times, in the same page as Paul ThomasAnderson, Wes Anderson and Chris Nolan. The problem is that after thewonderful maturity of his masterpiece The Wrestler, Black Swan feelslike a regression, as it's closer to the heavy manipulation of Requiemfor a Dream than The Wrestler's restrained minimalism. I just hope itssuccess won't drive Aronofsky further down that road, and keeps tryingmuch harder than he has to.

ALEXomeara (2012-05-17 10:54)

Amazing!

This movie was nothing short of amazing.It has a great story,greatperformances from Portman,Kunis,Hershey and even Winona Ryder wasimpressive in her small role.The movie is edge of your seat exciting.The movie revolves around a fragile,perfectionist ballerina NinaSayers,she is desperate to earn the coveted role of swan queen in herballet company's production of swan lake.She must impress the artisticdirector and prove she can embody both swans.The white swan is veryinnocent,while the black swan is very sensual and seductive.Nina is perfect for the role of white swan but,Lily is perfect for theblack swan.Nina persuades the artistic director to cast her in the roleby showing him a glimpse of her dark side.As Nina starts experimentingmore and more with her dark side she begins to become paranoid andquestion her sanity.Natalie Portman gives a well deserved Oscar winning performance.She isamazing in this.This is the best movie I have seen in a long time.Hopeyou enjoy it as much as I did!

Criticman12 (2012-05-16 18:05)

Weird, Bizarre, and Magnificent

"Black Swan", is about a ballerina named, Nina (Played by NataliePortman), playing the lead roles in the play, "Swan Lake, but when arival ballerina (Played by Mina Kunis) joins, Nina start's to lose hergrip on reality and start's hallucinating.Pro's: Natalie Portman does a magnificent job as Nina and Mila Kunisdoes a great job in the movie. Most of the time, Mila Kunis, is inComedies but in this movie, she's different. The Music in the movie wasamazing and captures the tone of the film. The character, Nina, wasalso great because her personality in the movie switches from the WhiteSwan to the Black Swan. When she act's like the Black Swan, that'swhere the movie get's really weird.Overall, if you're a fan of Darren Aronofsky's work or if you'relooking for a good Thriller to watch, "Black Swan", is definitely worthwatching.

kangerue (2012-05-16 08:32)

Not Interesting

I thought this would be more lively and thrilling, but it was not. Theidea behind the movie had potential but it ended up being so stale andboring.If you saw the trailer and thought "oh cool, some kind of psychologicalthriller -- this looks good!" Well it is, but don't see it. It's not agood one. Go see 1408.I think the only reason this movie will become popular is the lesbianscene... and the ample sexuality of two famous celebrities. Why doesthis movie have 8.7/10? I would give the trailer 8.7/10, but not themovie. They could have condensed this movie into a 30 minute episode ofthe outer limits. There was just no substance to it. Mila Kunis and herscenes were far more interesting that the rest of the movie. I think itwould have been better if she was in it more, but it felt like she wasbarely in it.

(2012-05-15 19:09)

Good Swan, Evil Swan

Peter Tchikovsky's great ballet, "Swan Lake" tells the story of a princess who has been transformed into a white swan and needs true love to be redeemed. Her redemption is thwarted by an evil character, the black swan. Director Darren Arnofsky's new movie, "The Black Swan" is based upon Tchaikovsy's ballet with a new symbolism. In the movie, the ballet director, Thomas, (Vincent Cassel) decides to give a new reading to the much-performed ballet by having the same ballerina perform the character of the white and the black swan, a taxing role indeed. Thomas holds auditions for the part. A dedicated, long-standing member of the company, Nina (Natalie Portman) auditions and is told she would be perfect for the white swan but lacks the passion and evil and ability to let herself go -- qualities necessary to play the black swan. Thomas wants to cast a rival, free-spirited walk-in dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis) for the part, but an unexpected passionate outburst from Nina convinces him otherwise. She gets the part.Nina is a devoted and gifted dancer. But she is prim and proper, represses her impulses, and his limited sexual experience. She lives at home with a domineering mother, herself a failed ballerina. Throughout the movie, in many rehearsals and other contacts, Thomas tries to work with Nina to get her to lose her inhibitions in order to portray the black swan as well as, most likely, to seduce her.The movie develops a great deal of sexual tension and jealous rivalry between Nina and Lily. In a life devoted to art, Nina gradually changes from a character neurotic and repressed to a woman of sexuality and passion able to understand and dance the black swan from within. The price of her increased gift as a dancer is madness. The movie suggests something of the nature of good and evil -- their polarity but also their disturbing relationship and identity. The movie also suggests the commitment and single-minded devotion of artistic creation. It is also a subtle horror story about the descent into madness. Not least, the movie reminded me of Tchaikovsky's great score, played throughout, which I have not heard for a long time and which I want to revisit with this movie in mind."Black Swan" premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, 2010 where it received an overwhelming response. It has been a surprising success at the box office. The movie is similar in many ways to an earlier film of Arnofsky's, "The Wrestler" which describes how an aging, ill, and washed-up professional wrestler must pursue his passion for his sport even at the cost of his life. A consuming and ultimately killing passion, the films suggest, is at the heart of both the tawdry world of professional wrestling and the artistic world of ballet. Vincent Cassel, who portrays the lustful but gifted Thomas in the "Black Swan", gives a stellar performance, similar in many ways to his role as the French gangster Jacques Mesrine in "Public Enemy No. 1".Robin Friedman

(2012-05-15 05:32)

Portman won an Oscar for this hot mess?

I just watched this movie and after seeing Natalie Portman's performance I'm now convinced the Oscars are as political as I always thought them to be.For one thing, there was barely any dialogue in the movie and Portman's lines never consisted of more than two sentences at a time. Even my non movie buff boyfriend commented about it. How do you win an Oscar with zero acting? We know Portman had a double doing all the intricate dancing, so that basically leaves her screaming and crying the rest of the movie. I guess I'm just one of the dumb peasants who didn't get it, but Black Swan is horribly overrated, as was Portman's "acting."