Perfection

Rating: 10/10 (27 January 2011)

Every time I see a film I absolutely love, it's hard for me to put into writing my show of affection. Oh sure, I could apply the usual words like "masterpiece" or "pure cinema" like I always do, but the more I get the opportunity to see movies like BLACK SWAN, it's pretty hard for me to apply all the usual praises ad naseum. You just got to talk about the unique visual style, the direction, the superb acting, the poetic imagery, the music, and everything else. BLACK SWAN is that kind of film; a film that I'm truly wild about. This is definitely one of the best of the year.
Darren Aronofsky has never been the formula guys; he's one of those directors that are always there to surprise us and restore our faith in a cinematic world where spoon-fed formula is always the order of the day. Films like PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE WRESTLER, and even the underrated THE FOUNTAIN are works of an artist to watch, and with BLACK SWAN, he has proved once again that he's a true filmmaker. After a more conventional but still outstanding work with THE WRESTLER, Aronofsky returns to the surreal style of his earlier films in this dark, beautiful, grotesque, and absolutely amazing work. Like what it said in some of the reviews, it's THE RED SHOES meets Polanski's REPULSION, with elements comparable to the works of Cronenberg, De Palma, Hitchcock, and even animator Satoshi Kon (whose 1998 anime PERFECT BLUE is numerously referenced here), but the film is still purely Aronosky's, with his trademark visual style and camera angles, as well as the resurfacing of themes in his earlier works; like the characters in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, Nina (Natalie Portman) slowly loses her grip with reality and her dreams as she becomes obsessed with "perfection" and slowly descends into madness. Like one of the best thrillers, Aronofsky understands the importance of visual clues; a manner of showing rather than telling (The endless use of mirrors, for example, imply a dual personality). Aronofsky also gives the film a more natural feel like his previous THE WRESTLER, which means it requires natural performances, and the actors deliver.
Natalie Portman deserves all the praises she got portraying Nina, a goody-two-shoes ballet dancer who gets the lead part of the White Swan in their company's audacious reimagining of Tchiakovsky's Swan Lake. But to be able to truly nail the role, she must also play the character's mysterious and looser alter-ego, The Black Swan. Mila Kunis plays Lily, Nina's understudy who may or may not be driving her crazy so that she could get the role. Vincent Cassell is terrific as the commanding artistic director Thomas Leroy, who tempts his young performers so that he can get the performance and grace he wants from them. Credits should also be given to bit role performances by Barbara Hershey as Nina's domineering mother who watches anxiously as her daughter lives the dream she left behind, and Winona Ryder as Nina's predecessor and professional ballet dancer Beth, distraught by getting replaced.
And as usual, I've applied all the usual praises to a film I know I loved WAY more. I just simply can't do justice to this superb masterpiece. It's just, well, perfect. The beautiful choreography of the ballet sequences (backed up by Clint Mansell's brilliant recapturing of Tchiakovsky's original compositions) are gorgeous to behold, as well as mysterious and dream-like. The movie also has the feel of a waking nightmare where the lines between what's real and what's a hallucination have been blurred out; we feel Nina's slow descent into madness as we see things as she sees them.
Is BLACK SWAN the best of the year? A bit of a stretch, but it's still unlike any movie I've seen all year.