Volty tells you if a movie sucks or not: Black Swan

[VoltySquirrel]

It’s not very often a director amazes you with each new movie, but there are a couple ones that do just that consistently. Christopher Nolen, Edgar Wright, and now, Darren Aronofsky can be all chalked up in that category. Now, I’ll admit, I haven’t seen all his films, and I’ve only recently discovered his genius, but I’m glad I did. After seeing The Wrestler, which I consider my favorite movie of the past decade, I didn’t think he could top himself. He made me eat my words with Black Swan.

Black Swan stars Natalie Portman in her Oscar winning role as Nina Seyers. She is a dancer in a prestigious ballet company who is about to put on their version of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Seeing potential in Nina, he casts her as the Swan Queen. In the role, Nina would have to play the graceful White Swan and the more deviant Black Swan. She is the perfect White Swan, but she just can’t seem to match the effortless performance of the Black Swan by Lily, another dancer in the company played by Mila Kunis.

The majority of the film is about Nina’s struggles with the role and the amount of stress she is subjected to from her demanding mother who may be living vicariously through her daughter and the director of the play, who demands absolute perfection from Nina. Beyond that, I can’t tell you much more that wouldn’t spoil the movie. You just have to go see it.

Part of the reason why this movie works so well is that each key element in a film is just right. The direction is phenomenal, with some truly scenes that would have failed with a director who didn’t know his/her way around a camera. The acting is spot on, with EVERY actor giving the performance of their lives, particularly Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman. The music by who I’m beginning to consider is one of the best composers in history, Clint Mansell (Moon, Smoking Aces, every Aronofsky joint), is spot on, with Tchaikovsky’s original score being present but being just slightly off that it becomes inspired, not much unlike the synth-Beethoven pieces in A Clockwork Orange. Hell, even the visual effects are nice.

Now, upon viewing the trailer, you might just think, “Psshaw, this is just some horror movie dressed up to be an arthouse flick,” but that’s a very strawman way to put it. Yes, this movie has horror elements. Yes, this movie cold be an arthouse movie. But it’s not that. In its most basic form, it is a film that ambiguously examines what would happen to a repressed woman whose chances at fame are challenged by the sheer amount of stress that goal would put on her psyche.

Look, I may seem as if I’m rambling on about this movie. You might even be right. That does not change the fact that it is a great movie. Hell, I’d even call it the best movie of the last year. If you haven’t seen this movie, you need to fix that pronto. Volty out.

P.S. Sucker Punch is up next.
P.P.S. I wrote this in one setting in ten minutes.

[Volty's iPod]

This is what we in the business like to call a bump.

[doppelganger]

I hated Black Swan, I thought it was overrated and rather anti-climatic.

[Volty's iPod]

I hated Black Swan, I thought it was overrated and rather anti-climatic.

I disagree.