A classic that respects the classics!

Rating: 10/10 (31 December 2010)

I ran into a former student as I left the theater. I walked right past him. He stopped me. "You all right?" he asked. I came out of my near trance and said, "Doppelganger." "That's what I was thinking, too!" he exclaimed. And so we talked about Marlow and Kurtz in HEART OF DARKNESS and the Captain in THE SECRET SHARER and, of course, Nina and Lily in BLACK SWAN. I was totally mesmerized, totally immersed, totally shaken and stirred. If Marlowe settled for "the nightmare of my choosing," I'm overwhelmed with this nightmare of Aronofsky's directing. I could go on about Captain Ahab and the theme of obsession or Kafka and the twisted madman distortion of one's view of the self, but BLACK SWAN is not derivative of these great works, nor an homage, but rather a unique journey into the darkness in all of our souls. Brilliant!