Heavy-handed

Rating: 6/10 (23 September 2011)

Gratuitous and heavy-handed. It's not that it's without its merit - it's very impressive visually, and a powerful, intense atmosphere is kept throughout. The performances are all terrific too, especially a small but powerful and surprising turn from Winona Ryder. But the plot is predictable and pointless, and the film feels like it's trying way too hard to shock and to create discomfort.
None of which is Darren Aronofsky's fault - his directorial work is engrossing and original, and he's still in my book as one of the most promising directors of our times, in the same page as Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson and Chris Nolan. The problem is that after the wonderful maturity of his masterpiece The Wrestler, Black Swan feels like a regression, as it's closer to the heavy manipulation of Requiem for a Dream than The Wrestler's restrained minimalism. I just hope its success won't drive Aronofsky further down that road, and keeps trying much harder than he has to.