Free Black Swan
Genres: ThrillerDr
Starring: Winona Ryder, Mark Margolis, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel, Natalie Portman, Kristina Anapau, Tina Sloan
Available Quality: DivX, Hi Def, iPod, Hi Def, Hi Def
Director(s): Darren Aronofsky
Country: USA
Year: 2010
IMDB Rating: 8.2
Nina (Portman) is a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her obsessive former ballerina mother Erica (Hershey) who exerts a suffocating control over her. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side - a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.
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Black Swan (DivX) | Resolution: 720x304 px | Total Size: 1751 Mb |
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Movie Photos:
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Visitors Review
M. O. (17 May 2012)
The movie that the symphony deserves
Black Swan is the movie that Tchaikovsky's 'Op. 20 - Swan Lake' needed.While Hollywood trivialized the composition for decades using it inordinary drama scenes and transforming it in cliché and also a joke indrama, Black Swan, above all, comes to stop this and proves that asymphony is not meant to be trivialized but used as a amazing supportcreation.Of course that Black Swan is far from being the masterpiece thatRequiem For A Dream (2000) is or also a cult movie as Pi (1998), butDarren Aronofsky made another poetic and amazing movie with memorablescenes full of emotion and expression of the fears that we hide andoppress all the time to a point that one day or another it releasesitself. Darren knows how to treats and transforms our inner feelingsinto images and Black Swan couldn't be different in his career and themore the movie improves more the images and the characters becomestronger.Natalie Portman is mesmerizing. I'm impressed how that little girl fromThe Professional (1994) is becoming one of the best actresses of hergeneration improving her abilities and proving her capabilities on eachnew work. Black Swan comes to sum a list of remarkable works as onCloser (2004), V for Vendetta (2006) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008).Being a 2011's Oscar favorite not surprises me and I will not beimpressed if she wins. She really deserves.The scene when she enters the stage as the Black Swan proves that thisgirl is an amazing actress. She makes you believe during entire moviethat she isn't capable of both roles and suddenly she transformsherself into a sexual bomb exploding in sensuality and desire.Also, the scene when she's dancing and the feathers starts growing isone of the most amazing scenes of 2010 and makes me shiver all thetimes I watch.Amazing. Fairly one of the best titles of the year.
(16 May 2012)
Getting inside a twisted mind has never been so freaky
This movie hands down has been one of the best that I have seen in a while. 2010 was full of drab movies. From the start I was highly intrigued, maybe more so because I am a psychology nut but in essence this movie really outlines what it could be like for a person to experience a neurotic breakdown. Nina the main character is a docile introvert who tries to find a way to break out of her shell to help her obtain the main dancer role in "Swan Lake" her journey to break away drives her insane... Literally! This movie was a fun journey, that will leave you guessing what is real and what is not. Great Movie.
Anthony M. (14 May 2012)
Masterpiece. Aronofsky, you've done it again.
Wow. Where do I start? This is a masterpiece. The actors are great, thestory is great, the visual effects are BRILLIANT, and for once, I wasnot bored by the ballet! Natalie Portman was the perfect choice for this role as Nina, aballerina who strives for perfection as the Swan Queen, and shedeserves Best Actress. She captures the naivety and youth of the WhiteSwan perfectly, and watching her slowly slip into madness as she isconsumed by the need to be absolutely perfect as the sultry and sexyBlack Swan (a role that her character REALLY has to work at) is adisturbing, unsettling, yet amazing film-watching experience. I alsomust mention Mila Kunis, who played Lily, a fellow ballerina (and a badinfluence) who is more experienced and sexy, the perfect choice for theSwan Queen.Darren Aronofsky has proved once again that he can do no wrong. Whattruly makes this film a masterpiece is not Natalie Portman, butAronofsky. Subtle foreshadowing and motifs (like a mirror being inalmost every shot)and the very dark and sexual tone/theme of this filmtruly make it one of Aronofskys finest. I cannot recommend it higher.
clr03f (14 May 2012)
Nothing Happened. Seriously
Plot Synopsis:Lily tries out and gets the lead role. She freaks out about it. Theend.Review:That's all that happened. Nothing else. That's it. She tried out forthe role. Got it. Practiced a bunch, and stressed about it. That's allthat happened. I heard a lot of people saying it's freaky and willleave you wondering what happened and I thought they meant in a PulpFiction kind of way, but NO,,,, it's in a NOTHING HAPPENED kind of way.Seriously, nothing happens. I don't get the hype.
(12 May 2012)
The quest for perfection is over..
I started watching this movie out of boredom, for a few minutes beforesleep and I found myself shivering at 4 o'clock in the morningwondering what the heck happened...I knew Darren Aronofsky was goodafter watching "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Fountain" but I didn'texpect this...Anyway if someone stole the whole show that was NataliePortman...she delivers the performance of a lifetime...Honey...welcometo the big league...Forget "Star Wars", "V for Vendetta" and keep a bitof "Leon" and "Garden State"...You are not the best young actress atthe moment but you are definitely in the top one !If Natalie doesn't deserve an Oscar for her portraying of Nina Sayersthen nobody ever did...Enjoy !
(12 May 2012)
OMG, what?!?
I can't believe this movie won anything! I was so looking forward to seeing it after all of the wonderful reviews and the awards. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations at all. It was odd and disjointed, and the acting (with the exception of Barbara Hershey and Mila Kunis, and whoever the actress is that coaches Natalie Portman in the "swan" movements) was horrendous. I'd never seen Ms. Portman in anything. Based on this movie, I think she has to be one of the worst actresses I've ever seen. Also, the use of the f-word seemed so forced and artificial, as though it was simply put into the script because someone thought that audiences just expect it in films; and some of the other lines seemed to have been added only for their supposed shock value. The club/drug scene was one of the most bizarre things I've seen and didn't add any value at all to the movie. Finally, some of the sound effects are ridiculous, really laughable. Just an overall disappointment and waste of money.UPDATE: Since I continued to hear how wonderful it was, I decided to give it another try (and another and another), thinking that perhaps I'd been too harsh and had missed something somehow. However, the more I watched it the more awful I thought it was. Then I watched a story on 20/20 about it, and became even more convinced it was garbage. Turns out the main reason Natalie Portman won an Oscar for her role was because the Academy voters (and the rest of the world) were led to believe that she did most/all of the dancing herself, which is a lie, and if they'd known she didn't they wouldn't have voted for her in the first place since the dancing was such a huge part of the role. Now I'm thoroughly disgusted with the whole thing and am throwing it in the trash where it belongs.
xxmhrxx (11 May 2012)
Disaster
Maybe this goes over well with people who never saw "The Red Shoes" or"Turning Point", or any other ballet films, but for those of us over30, "Black Swan" is the most heavy-handed, cliché-ridden soap opera inyears. First, in case you don't get that Nina is ultra pure, she wears pink orfluffy white (like feathers)in every shot. She even has a bedroom fullof stuffed animals, emphasizing her childlike virginity.Second, her nemesis, well-played by Mila Kunis, wears dark colors,loose hair, and appears to have black swan wings tattooed on herback....got it yet? There are oh-so-discreet shots of Nina's feet facing the toilet so weknow she's bulimic. It seems the producers wouldn't allow her to be a "cutter". Instead shescratches, including in her sleep. I guess it's possible, but herscratches are long and vertical, paralleling the BACK of her bra strap.Try to make that motion; it's right up with kissing your elbow. Shetells her overbearing mother "it's a rash". It's Ballet-Mom-From-Hell, a former dancer whose behavior is so overthe top as to be laughable, even trying to get her daughter to stoptalking to a friend by saying dinner's getting cold, and sleeping in achair in her daughter's room. The same over-the-top can be said for the ballet-master, whose lust forthe women in the company is unprecedented, to say the least.Ms. Portman was indeed very thin. She managed "swan arms" decently. Noone expected to see her en pointe, or doing the famous 32 fouetteturns, but the camera never even shot her below the bustline as shedanced. In fact, it seemed that 2/3 of the film was either close-ups ofher face or shots of her hair bun as she walked away from the camera.(Whoever did the dancing in the longshots was excellent.)Balletically, this is a revisionist "Swan Lake". Every ballet book hasthe story if you don't know it. Apparently the only reason for therevision was to create a death scene at the end. Gore galore.This film can't make up its mind if it is a romance (lesbian orstraight), horror, or fantasy.The only award should be for the black swan makeup. Oh yes...DON'T take the kids, especially if they study ballet.
TheGord1488 (10 May 2012)
Its Hollywood Hype time
Went on a bit of a whim to see this as it had a good writeup in thelocal independent cinema, but it was a complete comedown - maybe Ishouldn't watch so many DVDs, as it compared so poorly with one I'dseen the day before called "Waterlilies" which had French synchronisedswimmers where "Black Swan" had New York ballerinas, and was so muchbetter it's almost insulting. BS (as I will appropriately abbreviate)was overblown, over-hyped, poorly scripted and reliant on a constantbang-bang-bang of clichés and frenetic camera rushing about (usuallyjust behind the heroine's head). And if I ever see another "symbolic"mirror in a film I may throw up - there was hardly a scene without one.One of your other reviewers mentions "Repulsion" as a reference point,which got me as well, and just showed how much that particular filmsucceeded by understatement. I really don't understand why this film isseen as a shoo-in for multiple Oscars - Natalie Portman acts wellenough and Vincent Cassel manages to be Anton Walbrook from the "RedShoes" up to a point, but the film otherwise relies totally on clichéand isn't even as well directed as some auteurist reviewers seem tothink. By the end I really didn't care whether Natalie washallucinating or the events were actually happening - the film wouldnot have suffered any more either way. If the Oscar selectors aremainly prurient teenagers looking for an undemanding mixture of dullsex and ersatz culture (even Tchaikowsky is played too loudly!) thisyear, then this film will indeed win a few.
(09 May 2012)
Little Swan, can you be a good and bad dicotomy
(movie review)To become the best, you have to literally "become the best." That is what the delimma here is. In order to dance the swan in the newest version of Swan Lake, Natalie Portman is asked to become both the light and dark sides of herself. Doing the first part is her specialty but the dark - that is different. Still, she has already managed to take the place of her former and feel good in that. The flipside there is that she also has someone new breathing down her neck, waiting to take over. With the pressure adding up and time running out, can she become the thing she hopes to be?When I went to see Black Swan, I don't know what I expected but I did expect something more. I'm not downing the movie either, because it delivers on a psychological plateau. Still, the hype about awards and about the darkness within this movie make it out to be something that should be able to overwhelm you with the mystery of the moment. Instead, it is mostly about the struggles of one dancer trying not to lose it as she makes herslef into something more.There are admittedly odd parts and those are interesting. There is also this feeling of paranoia that stretches all across this picture, making you feel like something is happening. Things appear in the shadows, people do not seem to be what they claim to be, and a metamorphsis seems to be transpiring. all the time you watch this and wonder what is going on, and good acting leads you to really question the reality and the sanity of the situation. That's the upside. The downside is that small bits happen here and there, adding in about fifteen minutes of mystery into this growing feature. In some ways it has Jacob's Ladde rmoments that are really downplayed, making you wonder what you just witnessed. Still, it is not all good. You have slow places mingling in, making the movie drag in places. she dances and practices and loves and does other things. she even has a moment where her director tells her to go home and touch herself. That and the "moment" her fellow actress share - the thing some people seem to have hyped - are things that were seen by a lot of people but should not be such big things. There's a lot more to this than that.If you want to know this movie, think mindgames and then decide. You know what the person wants and you know others will want it, too. You also know it has oddity, but this is not a new feeling. It does have a good setup and I like it enough to say it is a solid 4, but I am not overly impressed. I would not see it again, for example, having my fill of it. That said, I did like it and I thought it was good - I just hate critically acclaimed because it misleads.4 stars - again, this is for the movie on the big screen and one time through.Thank you for your time
Blade_Le_Flambeur (09 May 2012)
Twisted Insides
Black Swan, the latest from Darren Aronofsky is a twisty-turnypsychodrama in the vein of Roman Polanski with aspects of The Wrestlerthrough in for good measure. The film constantly pumps itself throughwith menace, leaving the audience increasingly jolted until thesweeping conclusion.The story is hard to explain without spoiling anything. Nina (NataliePortman, at her restrained best) is an earnest ballerina hoping for herbig moment. She is potentially foiled (or is she?) by Lily (MilaKunis), a more striking figure.. all the while under the auspices ofThomas (Vincent Cassel, channeling plenty of smarminess). Along for theride is Nina's overriding mother (Barbara Hershey) and an dancer on theskids, Beth (Winona Ryder). As these characters collide the plotbecomes less and less coherent.And this does not pose any problems for Aronofsky who along with hiscapable collaborators in both aural and visual realms works to stir astriking environment. The New York city streets are constantly empty,leaving Nina to face off against unknown forces. Her overdone apartmentspeaks volumes about her childlike state. Aronofsky, like what he didwith Mickey Rourke, hovers behind Portman constantly with his cameracreating a sense of constant alertness. Rather than shooting dialoguein two shots, he cuts in front of both actors to convey a volley ofemotional drama. Like Polanski's Rosemary's Baby or Repulsion,Aronofsky tries to stir up as much menace as possible. Every framefeels tense, especially when the story becomes more splintered.The visceral impact of this works because it serves as the drivingforce behind the film. It's practically impossible to isolate asingular aspect of Black Swan; the sound design, the performances, thewriting, etc. all coalesce under Aronofsky's commanding vision. Here hehas fully matured as a director, confident in his constantly stylisticprotrusions. Consequently the film, like Requiem for a Dream, leavesthe viewer gasping for air. By the time the ending credits begin thereis a definitive response-but to what, exactly? Are Black Swan'spleasures all sensory? Is there something more intellectually engagingunderneath the strong exterior? These are questions like to divide viewers. But it is a film thatworks, thanks to Aronofsky's direction, and one that leaves animpression throughout and immediately after. What happens after remainsto be seen.
tabuno (08 May 2012)
Absorbing and Captivatingly Brilliant
Perhaps the best movie of 2010, this psychological drama set in theballet milieu presents the audience with a brilliant, striking,haunting and intense personal drama of one female ballerina's attemptto be the lead in Swan Lake. Natalie Portman, as Nina, must contendwith her own inhibitions and fears as the audience must confront theirown prejudices and bias regarding movie character stereotypes. In manyways, Nina's journey parallels many of our own fears and imaginedmonsters. With only three apparent possible editing or directorialalternatives (the selection of the female lead and the biting of themouth timing, the shot selection for the perceptual view of therehearsing (unlike Chorus Line), and the murder scene that didn't seemto quite have the clarity of character persona transformation andcredibility), this amazing personal almost mature David Lynch-likepresentation makes Blawk Swan a voyage of discovery and layeredemotional and psychological density the most absorbing, powerful movieof the year.
revenge_of_shinobi (08 May 2012)
It is Good
Black Swan is an interesting watch. You never know exactly where thefilm is going or what the point is. All you know is that this one girlwants to be the lead in this one production called Swan Lake.That's basically all you need to know, then just sit back and watch thefilm work it's magic, which is what it does. It veers off in to manyunexpected directions pulling you along for the ride, your brain tryingto piece together what has just happened while it's trying to stickwith the story trying to work out whats going to happen next. It's notpredictable , even when you second guess it you are only ahead for amoment as something else blindsides you leaving you aghast and makingyou rethink the film entirely again.It's not complicated either, it's not full of dialogue or a complicatedstory line, it's more akin to walking through a really good house ofhorrors where when you get to the end you have a sad feeling as yourealise your trip is over and you have to leave.
Dharmendra Singh (08 May 2012)
Artifice will always be exposed as something artificial
Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) is casting for the lead in his newversion of 'Swan Lake' and is captivated by the grace and control  andpulchritude  of Nina Sayers' dancing. Nina (Natalie Portman) is agifted ballerina, but has become so through a life of submission to hercontrolling mother (Barbara Hershey). We're never clear who's manipulating who in Darren Aranofsky's warpedpsychological thriller. Leroy has a lecherous side and will sayanything to bed any of the girls he's supposed to be training. Lily(Mila Kunis)  Nina's main rival  is also desperate for the lead partand will stop at nothing to overthrow Nina. Or is Nina manipulatingherself? Has the unattainable goal of perfection she  or rather hermother  inculcated in her impaired her psyche? Nothing is as it seems or is it?Beauty might be the effect of ballet, but the process to get to thatbeauty is shown to be ugly. The film's technicians did much toestablish the distinctive look. Colour has been drained, leaving onlyshades of black, white and grey to saturate everything: a stylisticdevice, I suspect, to reinforce the White Swan/Black Swan  good vs.evil  metaphor. Attention has obviously been paid to choreography, butit would have made sense to show more of what Portman had learned.Artifice will always be exposed as something artificial. I don't know what it says about me but I am drawn to artists who sufferfor their art. Portman trained and lost weight (20 pounds) for a yearto obtain a lissom body. She suffered an array of injuries, including asevere concussion and a twisted rib. The biggest injury was the absence of her renowned acting ability. AndI say that knowing she has come a long way since her unforgettableLolita-esque character in 'Leon'. The horror element in the story didsomething to overshadow her performance. Indeed I'd suggest that thefilm's success or failure depends on whether the White Swan/Black Swanmetaphor is engaging enough. Cassel, who is on my list of favourites, is again on fine form playingone of those hate-to-love but love-to-be types. It was nice to seeHollywood queen Barbara Hershey, whose appearance isn't tokenistic.Sean Penn once said of ballet that you didn't have to like it in orderto appreciate it. That's sort of my feeling about this film. www.scottishreview.net
Manal Shalaby (08 May 2012)
The Pursuit of Perfection
To really appreciate Black Swan, you have to have the soul of an artistto understand the psychological labor that true artists go through inorder to produce a "perfect" piece of art. The movie depicts thisprocess and succeeds in capturing the fine line between art andinsanity. Nina (Natalie Portman), an aspiring ballerina, gets the role of herlife as the Swan Queen in the universally acclaimed ballet The SwanLake. Being an inexperienced introvert and a stiff dependent, Ninafinds it easy to embody the role of the innocent White Swan butextremely difficult to embody its evil counterpart: the seductive BlackSwan. As a result, the show director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel),pushes her to dig deeper in herself and discover her own sexuality. Inthe meantime, Nina is totally obsessed with the new dancer, Lily (MilaKunis), who joins the company and charms everybody with herspontaneity, playfulness, and sexual appeal. Lily becomes everythingNina is missing, everything she wants to be, i.e. the Black Swan!At this point, the story of the ballet intertwines with reality, andNina's daily life turns into a daily struggle to win the approval ofthe director by breaking the curse of the White Swan she is trapped in.Nina becomes completely indulged in the ballet that she loses theability to distinguish between what's real and what's not. Suchpsychological conflict is beautifully symbolized in Nina's visions androle-giving to people in her life, and in her constant attempts torevolt against and break free from her mother and her meek self, sothat she can let the Black Swan take control of her. All for the sakeof art.. Perfect Art. The movie is fraught with symbolism and psychological undertones, atrademark of any Darren Aronofsky work, that the average movie viewerprobably will not tolerate. Nevertheless, I think this is Aronofsky'smasterpiece and his finest so far. His ability to bring such dark andunreachable artistic desires on screen and merge them with visualbeauty is stunning! Every scene in the movie is a painting to bestudied and taught. Natalie Portman's mind-blowing performance deserved every ounce of theOscar she won for this role. This girl has it all: talent, charm,beauty, grace, intelligence and maturity. Kunis and Cassel were bothplayful and charming, being comfortable in their seemingly tailor-maderoles. And just to make everything perfect, and leaving me nothing tocriticize, Clint Mansell adds his god-like touches to the movie's scoreturning it into a transcendental audio-visual piece of art.
akash_sebastian (07 May 2012)
Third Gem from Aronofsky !!
Here comes the third gem from Darren Aronofsky (after 'Requiem for aDream' & 'The Wrestler'). I'm a big fan of Aronofsky's style ofdirecting. Many are not a fan of his dark gritty style of directing,but those who are wont be disappointed.Beautiful Cinematography, Choreography and Acting. The movie is a realpiece of art. Natalie Portman is brilliant. After just a few minutesinto the movie, I was in the world of Nina Sayers. Almost all her life,she has been kind of a White Swan. Then after she gets the part in theplay, overcome by obsession, jealousy & anxiety, she slowly & slowlygoes into her dark side and finally gets transformed into 'The BlackSwan'. I'll be damned if I forget to mention Mila Kunis. She shows areally new side in this movie and she does it quite well.Screenplay is interesting and keeps you hooked to your seat. The storyand the play are well merged into each other.
Billie-Leah (07 May 2012)
Pointless and bland
Well, before I actually saw the movie I had been reading lots ofpositive references to it so I had considered it a movie worth ofwatching. After I have seen it I was not merely disappointed but alsorather depressed. The whole movie was something like a silent picture:You can watch it, though you can't quite understand what the creatorswant you to think of it.In the matter of fact, it is exactly the kind of movie that seems to bea perfect artistic movie - it contains epic themes like ballet andschizophrenia, depressive and negative view on life and world and acharming bad-ass with deviations. Sadly I found it so artistic that itwas more likely boring and bland and the main so-called bad-ass wasawfully irritating me the whole movie because of the actor and hisinsufficient ability to represent the character on higher level than ahigh school play.However, what disappointed me the most was probably the end of themovie. I won't write any spoilers here but just for you to know - agood movie shouldn't end up like this, that end indicates that thedirector didn't know what to do with the main character and thereforehe chose the easiest way to end it. And it also made the whole moviepointless and useless to watch.It's just my opinion but I consider a great movie a movie, which I'mcapable of watching more than once and I still enjoy it. And Icertainly wouldn't watch THAT movie more than once.
wasp755000 (06 May 2012)
Good dancing, awful script
This film looks like it was made by two directors - one for theaesthetically pleasing dance sequences, another for the atrociousscript and weak plot. Credit to Natalie Portman for obviously putting alot of effort into learning ballet. Also to Vincent Cassel for hisportrayal of the dance teacher. Masturbation scenes and lesbian sexhowever aren't a sufficient replacement for realistic dialogue. Theydidn't convince me that this would be enough to make Nina "let go" andproduce the perfect Black Swan performance. If this really is the bestthat Hollywood has to offer this year, then the U.S. film industry musthave gone downhill really fast.
(06 May 2012)
Don't Waste Your Money
Horrible movie, not worth the rental fee. After seeing the movie there is no way that Natalie Portman did all of her own dancing or even 95% of the dancing. Weird and disconnected glad I didn't waste the money and see it when it was still in the theater.
(04 May 2012)
A fierce, fascinating movie with a brilliant Natalie Portman performance.
BLACK SWAN is the story of a ballerina driven to insanity by her drive to succeed and to be perfect. It's also one of the more purely fascinating movies of 2010. Natalie Portman gives the performance of her career as Nina, the dancer. Nina has been with the professional ballet company headed by Thomas (Vincent Cassel) for a number of years, and she's hoping this will be the year she gets a lead role. He's reviving SWAN LAKE, and needs a new White Swan/Black Swan. Nina is a technically proficient dancer who will do well as the prim, proper, chaste White Swan. But where is her fiery passion and urgency that will be needed to play the Black Swan? She doesn't dance with the lack of self-control that his character calls for.Portman's character is something of a cliché. How many times do we see the driven perfectionist who can't let go and allow herself to let her feelings show because she's so concerned with getting the technical aspects perfect? It's hardly a new idea. Neither is the introduction of the character Lily (Mila Kunis), a carefree, full-of-smiles dancer who joins the company. She isn't so dedicated to her art that she can't go out and party. But she dances with the ease and passion that Portman cannot muster. The two develop a tentative relationship...but is Lily really a fierce competitor, trying to psyche out Nina?And Nina doesn't need much mental manipulation. She lives with her domineering mother (Barbara Hershey), a failed dancer who babies and controls her daughter to the point of suffocation. Nina is also mentally teased by Thomas...who tries to trick and manipulate his dancer into showing something new on stage. To say that Nina puts tremendous pressure on herself would be an understatement. She chews her nails and compulsively scratches herself, leaving tears in her skin. And she sometimes sees things that aren't there. Nina is tightly wound, neurotic and obsessive when the film begins. As things progress, we can see, with great clarity, how she begins to lose herself more and more.I don't want to say much more, because the journey Nina takes is fascinating. What's amazing to me is that this movie is really a potboiler or melodrama. It follows a clichéd path, treads familiar ground. Yet every moment of it feels new and real and dangerous. Director Darrin Aronofsky (THE WRESTLER) has done an amazing job of constructing the film to feel like a deep psychological study and a period thriller at the same time. It feels like something from the `60s or `70s and like something modern and edgy at the same time. He has chosen to film in digital video, and for once, the low budget choice works. The film has a slight darkness and fuzziness to it that only helps the mood.The screenwriters have also written about the details of ballet and SWAN LAKE in a way that lets viewers totally unfamiliar with the story have a good sense of what is going on. We understand the show and what Nina is trying to achieve. And for those many folks who say the ending is hard to figure out, I can only say, "you're trying too hard." It is a fascinating and gripping ending...but it is quite clear. Don't be turned away because you think you won't be able to "get" the film. I found it surprisingly accessible. My 18 year-old daughter had no trouble grasping it. (Although there was enough sexuality in the film to make me uncomfortable at having brought her.) I didn't hear people grumbling on the way out of the theater either (and the place was packed, by the way...I think this little art film is going to make some pretty decent money.)And please don't miss it, because you'll miss some good (even great) performances. Cassel is perfectly cast in the very clichéd role of the artistic director. Pompous, self-centered and yet somehow alluring...we see the creative side along with his cruelty. Hershey is frightening in her role...reminding me of Bette Davis in her BABY JANE days. And Mila Kunis continues to tackle unexpected and challenging roles...and with BLACK SWAN, she has put her days as Jackie on THAT `70S SHOW behind her. And Natalie Portman is a slam dunk for an Oscar nomination with her riveting performance. She's on screen for the entire film, and must accomplish much of the dancing herself. She looks weary, frightened, fragile, strong and dedicated. Her work here is so accomplished and takes us on such a journey; I was exhausted by the end because the ferocity of her work gripped me so tightly. It's easily the best female performance of the year. For her work alone, the movie is worth seeing. Fortunately, there's plenty else to enjoy in the gripping, highly-recommended BLACK SWAN.
Karl Munoz (03 May 2012)
Solid Effort
Black Swan is a very good film, but not nearly as great as most peoplemade it out to be. Barely a surprise though, since it was already avery good film 45 years ago when Roman Polanski shot it and called it"Repulsion". Personally, I though it reminded way too much of this (anda few other) Polanski film(s). Lonely, kind of obsessive, superblybeautiful girl that's reluctant, almost afraid, of relationships,descends into madness And Aronovsky is very good, but he is noPolanski, at least when it comes to the psychological thriller part.After a point, everything is, or could be, a delusion, which is kind ofirritating because you are only left with assumptions of what actuallyhappens. You know what you see is Nina's paranoid view of things, butit's so overwhelming that you're left wondering about almost everyscene, which is a bit too much.Of course, the film is, in the end, on par with some of the best filmsof its kind, but that's mostly thanks to Natalie Portman's (even more)fabulous (than usual) presence...and a lesbian scene between her andthe also wonderful Mila Kunis.Just those two actresses alone is worth the price of the DVD.
Review total: 20, showing from 1 to 20