Monday, December 20, 2010

Movie Review, The Black Swan, 4 stars

This NOT for the squeamish!  It is a brutal, in your face, psychological drama that is very difficult to watch.  In fact, I hated this movie for the first three quarters of the movie but then it turned the corner and became one of the best pictures of the year.   Natalie Portman (definitely Oscar winner) plays an obsessed ballerina whose ambition is to be the top ballerina in New York.  You feel very sorry for her because she is functionally insane and kept that way by her whacked out mother played by Barbara Hershey in an Oscar winning performance.  Mila Kunis plays her competition in the troop and also puts in an outstanding performance.  Definitely a best supporting nomination for her.  In a small but powerful role is Winona Ryder the aging queen of the ballerinas whom Natalie Portman is trying to replace.  Perhaps an Oscar nomination for her too.

This movie will have you squirming in your seat and looking way from the screen in several scenes that are very difficult to watch.  At the end of the movie it all comes together and it simply blows you away.  They really give you a workout, reminiscent of last year’s movie Precious. I thought that movie was tough to watch but in comparison to Black Swan it was a Pink Panther cartoon.

Again, let me warn you, if you decide to see this movie realize that it is brutal to watch and I can imagine some people walking out before the end because of the shocking scenes you are presented.  Even with all that, I believe that this ties my nomination for Best Picture with Inception which I also rated as 4 stars.  I watched Inception in the theater three times and cannot wait to see it again.  I don’t know if I ever want to watch Black Swan again unless I just fast forward to the last twenty minutes LOL.

No comments:

Post a Comment