Dancing with the Stars

Rating: 7/10 (19 December 2010)

I just got back from watching "The Black Swan" and am still sorting out my feelings about it. Most of the way, it was borderline unwatchable, mostly about people mutilating themselves mentally and physically. Then it got very dramatic but kind of over the top with a seeming triumph but by that time you don't know what was real and what wasn't: you don't know whether to be "uplifted" or not. It has some of my favorite actresses in it- Natalie Portman, Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey and Mila Kunis, who I'd only seen in the lightweight "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Date Night", (both of which were a lot more fun to watch than this). All gave terrific performances. Portman, who was also great as Anne Boleyn in "The Other Boleyn Girl", has matured into a major actress. But Hershey is probably the best thing in the movie as the loving but somehow threatening mother. Kunis gives the film the only charm it has and hits all the right notes in her limited but important role. Ryder's appearance made me sad because a decade ago she might have played Portman's role, (although she doesn't really have a ballet dancer's body). Her career never really recovered from her shop-lifting arrest, although she's made some interesting smaller films. I may be interpreting this wrong but I'm not alone, (judging from the IMDb) in seeing her role as the aging ballerina being angrily "retired" as paralleling her own career. Comparisons are being made to prior films- one that keeps cropping up is "Showgirls", another movie that may not be as "good" as this one but was more fun to watch. Some are comparing it to the same director's "Requiem for a Dream", about people who are falling apart due to drug use, (and who also lose touch with reality, as does the audience,). That was another unpleasant one. Id have to say that this is a movie you should see if you want to make sure you have an opinion about who should have won which award. But if you're looking for a good time, skip it.