I dedicate this blog to Slyde who is allergic to ballet.*
Natalie Portman plays Nina the Ballerina. At baseline, Nina is a little crazy. Prone to self destructive behaviors (purging, picking, scratching). She wears a straight jacket of sorts. The jacket keeps her mousy and pathologically unable to express anything but submission. Good times are sure to be had with this girl.*
Meanwhile, she continues to grow as a ballerina. Girl has mad skills. The skills get her the role of Swan Queen from the ballet Swan Lake. The Swan Queen is a two part role. Good, pure, and virginal for one part. Seductive, crazy and destructive for the other part. One is black and one is white. Guess what color is the crazy destructive?
Right, The Black Swan.
Everything that Nina keeps under wraps (passion, fury and might) is needed to pull off the black part of the Swan Queen. It's not that Nina lacks the black, it's just tightly wrapped inside her, binding her breathless.
As the movie goes on, Nina gets closer and closer to unleashing her fury and might. The black pokes out of her skin like little feathers. Unfortunately, as she unravels the ties that bind, she unravels her leash to reality.
It's sad and creepy and really, a good movie indeed. It gets two Mrs. Hall thumbs up!
*and yes, there is mucho girl on girl action. Which really, nicely done!
Posts
The Character Builder's Bible
7 years ago
9 Left a message at the beep:
excellent... i really want to see this movie.
and some web sites have shown clips of the girl/girl action already. being a responsible reviewer, ive watched them.
many times.
that's funny!!!
yes, watch it. but be prepared to let the film soak in. It's not a fast film. But notice all the gray, black and white, notice the greens and blues. Notice the subtle touches of crazy throughout. Really, it's a milieu piece. Go in and enjoy it!
it's girl girl action... i dont care if they act it out through puppetry!
honestly, ive heard its a good movie. i'll definitely see it
so . . puppet on puppet action eh?
i guess . . . it takes all kinds ;)
This movie left a little to be desired for me. I mean, I get that it was intended to be artsy, and dark, (which it was), but the movie as a whole fringed on the spectacular.
Girl on girl action aside, I thought Natalie Portman's performance was magnificent and visceral. It reminded me of the movie "There Will Be Blood"; in which Daniel Day-Lewis's performance was out of this world, but otherwise the movie was kind of lifeless. The previews for "Swan" made it look way better than it was. The payoff, although nail-bitingly wonderful, wasn't enough to carry the whole film.
I'm allergic to opera - fat people shrieking. I was onec told to check out ballet - thin people and no shrieking...
Brown: Yeah, it was good in theory, Portman's performance was beyond compare but . . it did lack a certain sumpin sumpin.
WR: I thought you were cultured. oh wait, maybe it's the accent that leads me to believe you are cultured.
As soon as I get a chance to illegally download this from the internet I will do it. But I ain't going to pay to watch Ballet.
pppptttthhhhtt!!
Post a Comment