ALL ABOUT EVE meets TWILIGHT ZONE ; Aronofsky scores & Portman shines; one of the year's best!

Rating: 10/10 (8 January 2011)

BLACK SWAN (2010) **** Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky's masterful fever dream of a dark drama explores the highly competitive world of professional ballet and what it means to be an artist at any cost necessary. Enter prima-ballerina-to-be Portman (just give her the Oscar already!; her career best) an identity crises at full tilt as she prepares for her greatest achievement and biggest hurdle: dancing the lead titular performance with only her haranguing mother (Hershey also top-notch and award worthy); a sexy younger rival waiting in the wings (Kunis equally excellent oozing sex appeal); and their commanding, sleazy instructor (Cassel in aging bo-hunk mode). What follows is a downward spiral only Aronofsky can capably achieve thanks largely to a woozy-inducing head-trip screenplay by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John J. McLaughlin. Think of ALL ABOUT EVE meets a borderline TWILIGHT ZONE horror episode. One of the year's absolute best. A stunner!