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.

Rating: 7/10 (22 December 2010)

Black Swan is not the movie most people think it is. Whenever the film is brought up in casual conversation, it's often referred to as the movie about ballet or the new Natalie Portman movie about a ballerina. While ballet provides the backdrop for the film, this is not a film about ballet. This is a film about the infinite pursuit of perfection, the intense desire to succeed, and the extremely dark places our mind can go when something becomes an obsession.
Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers, a ballerina in a New York City ballet company. The company is getting ready to stage a new revival of Swan Lake, a contemporary classic in which a girl is turned into a swan by an evil sorcerers curse. Where in the original, the girl is 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, the black swan, ultimately leading to the death of the white. The twist? In this revival, the dancer selected as the Swan Queen needs to play both the white swan and the black swan, a role that on one hand requires purity and perfection, while the other requires sexuality and a sense of intense passion. Does Nina Sayers have both? That's the central theme 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 agree more. This film is all out warfare on its central character of Nina Sayers. It is extremely dark, and often at times, as Ebert States, completely absurd. There were moments when I knew what was coming next and still had to look away. There were moments when I wanted to scream at the screen and say "Why is this happeningplease pull yourself together!" I don't know whether to praise the film for being so "out there" or to criticize it for going too far. It's an intriguing film, but I didn't once enjoy it. It's beautiful but completely uncomfortable, and it couldn't be further from what I think every average, everyday film-goer is expecting.
If there's one reason to see this film, other than to simply witness the insanity, it's for the performance of Natalie Portman. In this role, she's less of an actress and more of a true performer. She's featured in every scene of the film, every shot. She trained for 10-months to prepare for her role in this film and it shows as she is not simply a stand in in any of the ballet scenes, she is a literal ballerina. She weighs what appears to be under 90 lbs. exhibits the purest of pure and the darkest of dark. She literally transforms from white to black, sane to insane, shining to stark. It is my most sincere prediction that she will win an Oscar for this performance, and regardless of the film itself, I would consider it well deserved.
Black Swan is an evil movie, more disturbing than most films I've seen recently. It's a horror film and a thriller, hidden beautifully under the disguise of a contemporary ballet. Is it worthy of the critical acclaim 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 say no. Black Swan is the equivalent of watching a straight A student turn into a down and out junkie. Just because the film is award-winning, doesn't mean it's enjoyable. 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.
Michael Buffa Editor, Popcorn Jury http://www.popcornjury.com