Take a ride in this dark Swanee River!!

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2010)

Director Darren Aronofsky does not mind to step on anybody's toes when it comes to demonstrating that he can outperform other auteurs in orchestrating movies starring obsessed "go to the extreme for their profession" characters. Probably due to the fact the Aronofsky does the same himself in his craftsmanship of his pictures. Aronofsky's latest gem is the psychosexual "Black Swan" which uses the ballet as the backdrop. Natalie Portman stars as Nina Sayers, an apprehensive but driven ballet dancer in a New York company who gets the lead in a new version of the legendary "White Swan". Nina lives with her controlling mother Erica, and this Erica wants "all her children" (which would be just Nina) to reach supremacy in the ballet arts. Nina is the little niña of Erica and she won't let her forget it. The ballet company's artistic director is Thomas Leroy, who pushes Nina to the edge by insisting that Nina demonstrate reckless & impulsive behaviors in order for her to take a trip to the dark side to aid her in her "black swan" performance within the "white swan" ballet. Thomas makes a few sexual moves of his own on Nina for her to unveil a hidden aggressiveness or maybe for her to be the "(rhymes with luck)swan" to him. Yea Baby! OK, enough. Nina's ballet rival is Lily, the spontaneous little bombshell who may or not may not be a swan figment of Nina's imagination. In fact, there are numerous scenes in "Black Swan" that Aronofsky showcases Nina's extreme mania to excel by inserting hallucination or non-hallucination visions that Nina experiences. Aronofsky does push the envelope at times within those scenes but at the same time it displays his forte expertise of exhibiting determined & semi-delusional protagonists. There is no black & white (or maybe there was) when it comes to Mark Heyman & Andre Heinz' masterful screenplay of "Black Swan", it will effectively engage you in the "WTF" process. Portman's audacious leading performance as Nina will very well show the Academy that "she was perfect" and they will most probably hand her a Best Actress Oscar. The supporting acting of "Black Swan" demonstrated that they were almost perfect themselves; Mila Kunis was captivating as the wily Nina, Barbara Hershey reached over the veteran actress bar as the overprotected mommy Erica, and Vincent Cassel was powerfully enigmatic as the "no holds barred" ballet director Thomas. Hey, even Winona Ryder was a scene-stealer (did I just include Winona and stealer in the same sentence?) with her show-stopping performance as a jealous veteran ballet dancer. "Black Swan" was not perfect but it's the only time in my life that I have immensely enjoyed anything remotely close to the ballet. **** Excellent