"I was perfect"

Rating: 10/10 (3 December 2010)

**** out of (****)
For every moronic, trashy, and unoriginal Hollywood-esquire production (i.e. The A team), there exists a rather more clean, inventive, and memorable side (i.e. The Social Network). This year, I told my viewers that "The Social Network" dethroned every film this year and that it would be impossible for a movie to set the bar higher. With pitch-perfect performances and an Oscar-worthy script, no film could possibly top that one? Right? I am glad to say that 2010 has another winner on its hand and that winner is "Black Swan". Never has a film been more emotionally driven this year than that one. "Black Swan" will literally evoke every emotion. "Black Swan" is the reason why I go to see movies. It gets your adrenaline pumping and it's easily comparable to our everyday life. The messages in "Black Swan" go much more in-depth than one would expect and touches our souls while disturbing them. If that's not a complement, then I don't know what is. Unless there's another movie that will sweep "Black Swan" off its feet (pun intended), "Black Swan" is the best movie of this year and I have no problem believing it will be nominated for an Oscar.
Black Swan revolves around Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) who's a professional ballerina that has worked for Thomas (Vincent Cassel) for a mere four years and she gets the part of the Swan Queen. The Swan Queen is required to play both the White and Black Swan. This is no child-like, run-of-the-mill ballerina production. It's a psychological study. The White Swan is the innocent woman with a child-like innocence that has kept her gold, while the Black Swan is the looser, more sexually charged woman. Both Swans kind of mesh together. Nina is exceptional as the White Swan but she seems to struggle with her Black Swan. Things take a turn for the worst when the pressure gets to her including her uptight mother (Barbara Hershey), her instructor (Vincent Cassel), the retired "princess" (Winona Ryder), and her alternate (Mila Kunis).
What makes this film so extraordinary? While it excels in every aspect, its biggest strength is within its symbolism. Darren Aronofsky has a specific direction and it clearly shows (in a great way). The mesh of the swans is such a brilliant concept. Don't we both have an innocent and guilty side to us? Good and bad? In the end, we're both. For now, this seems like a cheesy lesson but when projected on screen, the execution is lovely. To top it off, every performance here is Oscar-worthy. Natalie Portman's performance, by far, is the best I have seen this year. Yes, Jessie Eisenberg and Christopher Nolan were exceptional this year, but Natalie Portman just blows those two out of the water. She can act through just about anything. I know sometimes her acting can be very amateur (ala "Brothers"), but in this movie, she shines. Also, the script is just genius. The dialogue is great, the score is intoxicating, and when hell breaks loose, hell breaks loose.
How's the pacing? Nothing short of perfection. "Black Swan", while it looks like a trip to hell, most of its running time is used for character study, which in the end, is more effective. The first fifty minutes or so are just really odd, but in such a great way. There, we see some implied sexual tension between the instructor and Nina, Nina practices masturbation, and we learn about her uptight and controlling mother. After those fifty minutes, when the crap hits the fan, it hits hard. Hear we have stabbings, cuttings, bruises, bones braking, a two-minute lesbo make-out session, and fingernail clippings. I won't go into further detail.
Overall, "Black Swan" is easily, hands down, the best move I've seen this year. I understand this movie is only playing in a mere three theaters for each state, but if you find a theater at least an hour distance from your surrounding, please go see this movie. The chances of you finding a good film this year is a one-in-a-million shot. For every "Inception", there's a "Clash of the Titans". You owe it to yourself to see such an inventive movie. Perfect cinematography. Perfect performances. Perfect direction. Perfect script. Darren Aronofsky is simply a perfectionist. "I was perfect". No Black Swan. You weren't perfect. You ARE perfect.