Black Swan

Hello, I'm your friendly neighborhood stalker, I mean, I'm TheCinemaChick!

I checked my stats and people are actually looking at what I post.  Are they reading it?  I don't know, but people are looking.  That makes me rather happy, considering I've not had the best week.  It's been cold and icy and I had to drive in it.  Don't get me wrong, I love cold weather, but ice sucks!  Ah, I could go on and on about my personal woes, but I won't bore you.

I present to you, Black Swan.

This film was brilliant.  I don't know much about ballet, though I am a fan of watching it.  Like "The King's Speech, this movie was not very well advertised until it had been out for about a month, I believe.  It had a limited release at first, later given a nationwide release so more people could see it.  I went to my local theater, which I frequent because a ticket is only $4.  As with most of the movies I see, I was with good old Fry.  To my surprise, the place was packed, granted the theater we were in was smaller than all the others in the building.  And apparently, we should have worn our Sunday best because the lady in the row behind us wore her mink coat.  I'm not kidding.

On to the movie.  This is another film you should not take the kiddies to.  It has swearing and some well, graphic sexual situations.  There is a scene where the main character, Nina,  engages in masturbation, which was disturbing because her mother was in the room at the time and later, the lead female charactersm Nina and her rival Lily, have sex.  Not to mention, the dance instructor, Thomas Leroy, played by Vincent Cassel, comes off as a complete pervert.  Seriously, almost every time he spoke, I wanted to slap him.  He played the part well.

As the title suggests, the movie is all about ballet dancers preparing to perform "Swan Lake".  Several weeks after seeing this, Butterfly pointed out the movie is basically a modern retelling of the ballet.  It's all about the corruption of innocence and the loss of self.  Thomas tells Nina that she would be his perfect star, if only she would loosen up and embrace her dark side to become the Black Swan.  He points out that Lily is the perfect Black Swan.  Now, maybe it's the year of classes I took about cinematography, but I noticed something interesting.  The film plays up the dark/light and black/white parallel a lot.  Nina almost always has on light colors, if not white while Lily is the opposite, usually shown wearing black.  There is also an emphasis placed on the swan image.  Keep your eyes peeled during the movie.  Nina's bathroom has tiles with swans on it.

Now, this isn't a light hearted romp into the world of professional ballet.  Oh my no, it's a dark, psychological trip into total and complete paranoia.  Once Nina learns who her rival is, she becomes paranoid, thinking Lily is stalking her or trying to get her out of the ballet.  All the while, Nina keeps showing signs that she is literally becoming the swan.  Her legs bend in strange ways, she sprouts wings and her eyes change colors.  It's disturbing and haunting, but it's just so good you won't want to look away.

Now, Darren Aronofsky directed this.  I personally am not familiar with his work, but he's done other films that I have an interest in watching.  He directed "The Wrestler" and "Requiem for a Dream".

I know I haven't gone into much detail about this movie or really delved into a plot, but I seriously think this movie is worth the money you'd pay to see it in the theater.  Natalie Portman does not disappoint, nor does anyone else in the film.  It's brilliant and keeps you guessing until the very dramatic ending.  Would I see this again or purchase the DVD?  Yes.
Do I think you should stop reading this and go see it?  Well, I'd prefer if you finished reading this because I'm almost done., but yes.

That's all I'm going to say about Black Swan, the brilliant film that has deserved every nomination and award it has gotten.

And I have exciting news!  As you all know, Fry has joined by crew, but Kit Kat has now also agreed to be a part of this cinema related madness.  Expect to hear her opinions when I do some of the older movies on here.  We are discussing what film to do next, so it's going to be a surprise.  Not even we know!

So for now, I bid you happy movie watching from TheCinemaChick and her crew!