A review of Black Swan

Rating: 10/10 (25 December 2010)

Beware! Spoiler alerts abound!
Let me start off by saying, the concept for this movie is not original at all. I've seen this concept in movies like the anime movie Perfect Blue and the Bette Davis starred film All About Eve. However this is not a reason to dismiss this movie altogether. If anything, I felt that the concept strengthened the film.
Concept: Main character is a ballerina, and has worked her butt of all her life to land a starring role in a show. She finally gets a starring role, slowly goes crazy due to stress and pressure, and has a jealous/paranoid rivalry with the new girl that spirals into a downward finale.
Sound familiar? That's because this is a tragedy, one of the oldest (if not the oldest) genres in human history. Someone still practicing this form of storytelling will definitely receive a tip of the hat from me. Not just any hat but THE hat.
The strongest point of this movie? Themes. Themes of loss of innocence, paranoia, sexuality, jealousy, perfection...it's hard to keep up with the variety of themes this film has to offer. This blending of themes creates a very compelling story that deserves much attention.
Second strongest point is atmosphere. This movie is dark and creepy. It builds this insane nightmare from the viewpoint of the main character that sneaks up on the audience when they're least expecting it. Very well executed!
The score and the sound also add to the subtly creepy mood to the movie. The striking of stringed instruments accompanies the insanity processing in the main character's mind.
So what happens when you work with a concept as old as time itself? You make it into your own interpretation, which director Darren Aronofsky succeeded in doing. I've seen his films Pi and Requiem for a Dream and they usually have a main character or several characters that obtain something and slowly decline into madness or unfavorable circumstances. Black Swan is no different. The main character obtains something, this something changes the character, and the character falls into tragic circumstances. In the way Aronofsky presents this method of storytelling, this movie would be his Magnum Opus. It doesn't even take that much brain activity to really "get" the movie. It relies more on action than words to drive the story, not like Inception where you need to pay attention to really understand it. This movie is by far the creepiest film I've seen all year, creepier than Human Centipede, which I thought was an effective horror movie. A movie like Avatar had an unoriginal concept and relied too heavily on visuals to really make it a good movie. This might break some people's hearts but I liked this movie better than Inception just because it felt like it wasn't trying too hard to tell a story, not to mention that the concept is much more accessible to the average moviegoer. Also a nice touch I've noticed is how anything seemingly "heavy" or "extravagant" is quashed by references to masturbation and drugs, almost as if Aronofsky is telling audiences and critics alike to just "take the stick out of your ass". Since this year is almost over, I feel very confident to say that this is the best movie I've seen all year.