Black Swan

Rating: 5/10 (23 January 2011)

Black Swan is about a young woman named Nina, who is auditioning for a new version of the classic ballet Swan Lake. Nina really wants the lead role in this part and she gets a lot of pressure from her mother Erica, at home as well as her strict and no nonsense teacher named Thomas. As Nina continues to practice and work herself to the brink of exhaustion to get this part, we soon start to see changes in her. When we first meet her she seems quite kind and gentle and in a lot of ways let's people push her over, but soon her friendly and forgiving attitude starts to go and we see Nina's personality change before our eyes as she grows increasingly more paranoid and eventually experiences, or drives herself to some kind of madness because of all this. I really wanted to like Black Swan. When it came out I could not wait to see it, but unfortunately I could have waited and it may have been best if I had never seen the film at all because I did not like it one bit. Basically, I felt the storyline of the film and just the overall look, feel and style of the film were all copied off of older Roman Polanski directed thrillers such as Repulsion and The Tenant. Having seen both Repulsion and The Tenant quite a few times, it was very easy to see where this film borrows (or should I say copies) from both of those two films with the story, certain aspects of what happen in the story and the style and direction as well. The film just did not feel fresh, or original. Instead it just felt like it was recycling these other two movies with only a handful of new footage that the writers came up with themselves thrown in. Basically this is a very ugly looking film and it was kind of awkward to sit through. As time passes during the film, events and situations get so bizarre that they are no longer fascinating, but instead over the top and ridiculous. Although, I never laughed out loud during this film, several people in the audience I was with did and I have to say that I could not blame there. There is not a moment of intentional comedy in the film, but because everything seems so forced, overly melodramatic and at times foolishly ridiculous, at times you can not help, but laugh by the mess of the whole film. Even the acting that is really getting praised I am still not sure what I thought about. Natalie Portman, who plays Nina and won a Golden Globe award for it last weekend does deliver a lot to the role because it seems like a really exhausting and physically demanding role and to learn ballet to play the part is also quite impressive. I wouldn't say it was a terrible performance, it's just that it never won me over in the sense that I really cared for Nina, or for the outcome of the film. I think if the film had been handled better and gone in a different direction, I probably would have felt differently. Barbara Hershey as Nina's mother was just campy, over the top and melodramatic acting that I did not care for at all, but out of all the performances I would have to say the two strongest, or at least the ones that I found worked were Vincent Cassel as Thomas and Mila Kunis as a rival dancer named Lily. They were able to do their parts without over acting them and by still bringing some intrigue and fascination to these characters. I think if Black Swan had been written and directed using original ideas and an original way of filming it, instead of copying Polanski films and using all the old horror clichés and tricks around, then with the talent involved, it could have been a really good film, but as it is it is uneven and I go as far as to say it is a mess in just about every way and one of the worst films of 2010. Oddly enough the film is being praised by a lot of critics and up for some major awards, which I just do not get at all. Maybe, I missed the point of this film, or perhaps the other critics did. After watching this film I do not care who is right, I just do not want to sit through this film again.