Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

[oldsheperd]

Really? No excruciatingly slow big-city rollout?

According to the wikipedia article on the moview there will be a slow roll out beginning December

[Tom Hagen]

Wait . . . this is a prestige picture? I just assumed that it would be some sort of October genre release with young, relatively bankable stars.

[knives]

Aronofsky is considered oscar bait (though he will never win anything even if he were to deserve it).

[oldsheperd]

Hmmmmm, Mila Kunis. Everytime I see her I want to ask where Kelso, Eric and Donna are. Hmmmmm, Donna. Yum!

[colinr0380]

It sounds as if we need to get domino to a copy of La Danse - stat! Though your comments make me curious about what films you feel have captured ballet or dance the best, along with what you thought of that Robert Altman film The Company?

Black Swan looks interesting but then I love The Fountain so take my interest of the film with that big grain of salt! And does Natalie Portman turn into the titular* swan at the end of the trailer? Though I'm not saying that would put me off from seeing it, since far stranger things have happened in Aronofsky films!

*Semi-smutty usage of word 'titular' in this post is dedicated to the mammaries of oldsheperd

[We Are Professionals]

It looks like some delicious camp. And it benefits from low expectations in wake of "The Wrestler".

[MoonlitKnight]

I guess I was expecting something that took ballet seriously, but based on the unimaginative and unintuitive direction of the dancing I'm seeing in this trailer, we're not going to get anything approaching that. With so few films made about actual dance anymore, it's a shame this one looks to be more concerned with dance as window-dressing to more well-trod territory-- and the trailer being cut like a bad SyFy movie doesn't help. Hey, I hope I'm wrong, and it's unfair to judge a film by its trailer, but I stand by my "Yikes" for now

Considering most trailers are made to be as broadly appealing as possible (ESPECIALLY movies that are never going to have mass appeal), I'm not too worried yet. Honestly, this whole selling the film based on Natalie and Mila's lip-lock seems vaguely reminiscent of Fox marketing Soderbergh's "Solaris" based on a brief glimpse of Clooney's bare ass. :-s

[eljacko]

Isn't ballet a subject considered "uncool" (or something like it) by mainstream society? I would agree with MoonlitKnight in that I imagine they'd sell the creepy psychological madness side of the film to attract a wider audience. I actually think it looks pretty interesting, although I also happen to like both leading actresses.

It looks like some delicious camp. And it benefits from low expectations in wake of "The Wrestler".

Low expectations because of The Wrestler? Care to explain? I thought it was a pretty good exploration of relics from the 1980s, and am interested in Black Swan partially because of my liking of Aronofsky's previous films.

[James]

Isn't ballet a subject considered "uncool" (or something like it) by mainstream society?

Not really. Where did you come up with that?

[Person]

Ballet? Aronofsky? Natalie Portman in tough role? Clint Mansell's music? This will be different!

Ballet is amazing. Always has been to me. Maybe in the working class hetro communes it is seen as "poofy" but I've dragged a few beefies to the stage and they... well, they said "it was good. Quite... good" but it's dexterous, skinny, classy hot women enacting the emotions of our condition! When done right, it's Shakespeare with dance. Enjoy without shame for fuck's sake.

[Jeff]

Aronofsky interview

[eljacko]

Isn't ballet a subject considered "uncool" (or something like it) by mainstream society?

Not really. Where did you come up with that?

I remember reading an article about opera and ballet describing issues with funding in nyc. That, and at least amongst my group of friends (with a variety of interests) something about ballet may not interest them so much. I don't know, maybe all my friends think it's the bear in the car, or have an interest I never knew about, but it doesn't exactly come up much in conversation.

Now that I'm defending my statement I have a strange urge to go see a show...

[Kellen]

Here are some early reviews of the flick (via: http://www.slashfilm.com)

Variety:

Aronofsky seems to be operating more in the vein of early Roman Polanski or David Cronenberg at his most operatic.” … “A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer’s all-consuming ambition,” … “Aronofsky and costume designer Amy Westcott are none too subtle with the film’s symbolism, dressing Nina in innocent white outfits while those around her wear darker and considerably more ominous colors. These exaggerated stylistic choices (somewhat at odds with Aronofsky’s documentary-like sense of detail and Matthew Libatique’s handheld shooting style) extend to the production design as well, adding yet another motif: Reflective surfaces, mostly mirrors, offer fleeting glimpses of Nina’s other half.” … “Coupled with Clint Mansell’s score, which expands upon Tchaikovsky’s original “Swan Lake” compositions to suggest something considerably more macabre (further aided by proper horror-movie sound design), the result is an unsettling yet ultimately intuitive blend of classical and contempo techniques.

The Hollywood Reporter:

Trying to coax a horror-thriller out of the world of ballet doesn’t begin to work for Darren Aronofsky.” … “The movie is so damn out-there in every way that you can’t help admiring Aronofsky for daring to be so very, very absurd.” … n instant guilty pleasure, a gorgeously shot, visually complex film whose badness is what’s so good about it. You might howl at the sheer audacity of mixing mental illness with the body-fatiguing, mind-numbing rigors of ballet, but its lurid imagery and a hellcat competition between two rival dancers is pretty irresistible. Certain to divide audiences, “Swan” won’t lack for controversy.” … “Portman, who has danced but is no ballerina, does a more than credible job in the big dance numbers and the tough rehearsals that are so essential to the film. In her acting, too, you sense she has bravely ventured out of her comfort zone to play a character slowly losing sight of herself. It’s a bravura performance.” … “Kunis makes a perfect alternate to Portman, equally as lithe and dark but a smirk of self-assurance in place of Portman’s wide-eyed fearfulness. Indeed, White Swan/Black Swan dynamics almost work, but the horror-movie nonsense drags everything down the rabbit hole of preposterousness.

Screen International:

Darren Aronofsky soars to new heights with Black Swan, an enthralling drama set in the competitive world of ballet. Alternately disturbing and exhilarating, this dark study of a mentally fragile performer derailed by her obsession with perfection is one of the most exciting films to come out of the Hollywood system this year.” … “a bold display of cinematic fireworks that will leave audiences breathless.” … “If you can imagine The Turning Point run through with the psychological disturbia of Repulsion or Rosemary’s Baby, you get the gist of Black Swan.” … “Portman is captivating” … “she captures the confusion of a repressed young woman thrown into a world of danger and temptation with frightening veracity.” … “Aronofsky and his faithful DP Matthew Libatique work wonders with the dance sequences, bringing them to life through ingenious and diverse camera movements, while keeping Nina’s off-stage life grainy, hand-held and claustrophobic.

Telegraph:

Powerful, gripping and always intriguing, it also features a lead performance from Natalie Portman that elevates her from a substantial leading actress to major star likely to be lifting awards in the near future.” … “Aronovsky makes great play of a colour scheme featuring mostly black and white (while Tomas dresses mainly in grey). But some details are tellingly observed - the preponderance of pink in Nina’s bedroom,a collection of soft toys, and the Swan Lake ringtone on her phone that lets her know Mother’s calling. Tchaikovsky’s music takes on an unsettling quality as Nina’s descent progresses, all the way to the disturbing but perfect ending. Black Swan is an exhilarating if uneasy ride, one that could deliver Aronofsky his second Golden Lion here in three years (he won in 2008 with The Wrestler). As for Portman, she can expect a busy few months at awards dinners.

Indiewire

As a sensory experience for the eyes and ears, Black Swan provides bountiful stimulation. Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique choreograph the camera in beautiful counterpoint to Portman’s dance moves, especially in rehearsals, and the muted color scheme on rather grainy stock look like a more refined version of what the director did on The Wrestler. Tchaikovsky’s ever-present music supplies plenty of its own drama and the dance world details seem plausible enough. But when the script by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz, based on the latter’s story, struggles to carve out a real-world parallel to the life-and-death struggle depicted in the dance story, it goes over the top in something approaching grand guignol fashion. Particularly grating is Hershey’s insufferable mother character, who persists in calling Nina “my sweet girl” and barging into Nina’s room whenever she feels like it while nursing a perennial grudge over having given up her own career to raise her daughter, to the point where she resembles the mother in “Carrie” more than someone who actually lives in the real world.

obsessedwithfilm:

Best film I’ve seen all year. Left me devastated, excited, tense and emotionally drained. Tarantino will be a fool if he doesn’t give this the Golden Lion (unless something even better is coming up!). Aronofsky has made his first masterpiece and Portman must now be favourite for the Oscar. A perfect film that blends The Red Shoes with Antichrist, via Cronenberg.

[Jeff]

Everything except The Hollywood Reporter sounds very enthusiastic, and as I pointed out in my link to Kirk Honeycutt's review of The American, he can't be trusted in his response to anything with the slightest artistic ambitious. He's got exceptionally mainstream, middlebrow proclivities, and anything that challenges his perception of "tradition of quality" Oscar bait is either going to be deemed weird or boring.

This movie looks more intriguing every day. I'm loving the references to early Polanski.

[Kellen]

The Polanski vibes are getting me excited as well, aslo I think someone said it was supposed to be like Red Shoes on acid. I'm not sure what i'll get when I watch it but I can't wait to find out.

[Kellen]

Peter Sciretta over at /Film just check out the film. Here are his thoughts:

Before Darren Aronofsky left the stage at the 37th Telluride Film Festival in the introduction of his new film, Black Swan, he apologized to the crowd: “I’m really sorry. I want to apologize for what’s about to happen… I didn’t know what I was doing…” With that he walked off stage and the lights went down. Aronofsky’s apology was directed at people like the older couple seated to my right. Maybe they were lured in by the star power of Natalie Portman, the story of a ballet dancer, or possibly because they loved that movie about the professional wrestler and the stripper. Whatever the reason, they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. And why should they? Black Swan is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Many are comparing the film to Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, probably due to the minamalistic handheld Super 16mm cinematography and the choreography which connects both dance and wrestling. It’s not hard to believe that Black Swan and The Wrestler began as the same project. Originally, the wrestler was to fall in love with a ballerina. Fascinated by the dual character in the ballet Swan Lake and the idea of doppelgangers, Aronofsky decided to develop a psychological thriller about a dancer who is obsessed with perfection. Natalie Portman plays a dancer named Nina, who is driven into madness when a rival appears in her ballet company and challenges her for the lead role in the company’s production of Swan Lake.
Swan Lake not only serves as the production inside the film, but the film itself is essentially a big screen adaptation of Swan Lake. The characters in the film are dramatic versions of the characters in the 1877 ballet, and the story mirrors the storyline of the stage production in many ways (and probably even makes more sense of the fairytale). Even Clint Mansell’s fantastic score is a cinematic horror adaptation of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s compositions. It is unlike anything Mansell has ever done before, and I can’t wait to hear it again.

I think Black Swan is better compared to the filmmaker’s first feature. Aronofsky broke into filmmaking with the $60,000 black and white independent film Pi, which was about a paranoid mathematician who searches for a “number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.” (warning, spoilers for Pi coming up…) Max finds himself on the run from other organizations who also want to get a hold of his achievement, and use it for their own gain. He is driven to the brink of insanity, causing severe headaches, unexplained nosebleeds, and vicious hallucinations. In a fit of rage, Max drills a hole in his skull, and becomes at peace with nature. (pi spoilers concluded)
A lot has happened since Pi screened in the late 1990’s. Aronofsky made a certified masterpiece in the big screen adaptation of Requiem for a Dream. He crafted an a science fiction film, The Fountain, which spanned over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, and made the awards rounds with The Wrestler, his transition from a heavily stylistic aesthetic to a more naturally filmed character piece about a down and out professional wrestler.
Black Swan is a brilliant mind fuck. It is one of the boldest films I’ve seen produced by a Hollywood studio in years.

Portman’s performance, which is a transformation in every sense of the word, is nothing short of amazing. If she does not at very least get an Academy and Golden Globes nomination for this film, something is seriously wrong. The actress has danced until she was thirteen years old, but is obviously not a trained ballerina. However, you’d never be able to tell in this film. Some of the dance sequences clearly involve incredible skill on Portman’s part, while someshots likely involved Portman’s head to be digitally inserted on a classicly trained dancer. Although, most people probably can’t even tell (I couldn’t).
Cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who has been working with Aronofsky since his 1993 short film Protozoa and has gone on to DP the Iron Man films, shoots the elegant ballet sequences on stage using handheld cameras to capture the art of dance in a way I’ve never seen before.
Mila Kunis gives her best performance to date. Winona Ryder, Vincent Cassel and Barbara Hershey were all excellent.
Black Swan is also the most erotic American film I’ve seen in years. Portman’s character Nina is sexually repressed, and her director Thomas (played by Vincent Cassell) is trying to turn Nina’s frigid dancing into something more seductive. Yes, there is masturbation, the much talked about sex scene between Portman and co-star Mila Kunis and a fair share of physical groping. The old lady to my right gasped at least a dozen times. She covered her eyes during the sex sequences, and groaned in disgust at the gore.
Oh, did I mention this is a horror film? The disturbing imagery spans the gamut of scratches, cuts, bloody puncture wounds, to demonic transformations. There are genuine, jump out of your seat scares. Paintings come to life, and tattoos become animated. Aronofsky cleverly balances the crazy happenings with a heavy chunk of realism. The doc-style handheld cinematography, authentic performances and heavily researched details, make the horrific imagery that more horrific.
This isn’t a movie for everyone, certainly not the rich Colorado couple that quickly squeezed past me on their fast exit out of the theater. They didn’t wait around for the question and answer session with the director which followed. I guess they knew all the answers already? I’m glad I don’t.
Half the time you’re not sure what is real and what isn’t. The movie demands to be re-watched more than a few times, and will likely reward audiences for multiple viewings. The use of reflections, in both glass and mirrors (maybe to “reflect” Nina’s ever consuming self-reflection and improvement), and color schemes (Nina’s characer dresses in white and lives with a lot of pink, while Thomas has a more minimalistic black and white decor) will give film school students a lot to explore.
Comparisons to early Roman Polanski or David Cronenberg are not unwarranted. Aronofsky even admitted during the Q&A that the film was influenced by Cronenberg’s The Fly and Polanski’s Repulsion. Aronofsky scoffs off comparisons to the recently Scorsese-restored edition of The Red Shoes, believing it is just a result of research both productions did into the world of ballet. The attention to detail in this film is insane. From the incredibly detailed production design to the fantastic details which immerse us in the world of ballet much the way The Wrestler took us into the world of independent wrestling.



/Film Rating: 9.5 out of 10

[stereo]

Well I'm sold.

[domino harvey]

I'm sold that you shouldn't let fanboys of anyone write embarrassing articles meant for mass consumption

[Alphonse Doinel]

Black Swan is a brilliant mind fuck.

I thought we were over using this term?

[stereo]

I'm sold that you shouldn't let fanboys of anyone write embarrassing articles meant for mass consumption

Fair 'nuff, but tell me you're not intrigued enough to at least want to watch it and make your mind up for yourself. I'm not a huge Aronofsky fan by any stretch, but he's always fascinating to watch.

..and I'm not as bothered by the review as I pretty much assume all film reviews outside academic analyses (and even including some/many of those) are going to be fanboy on some level; it's the nature of the beast, that wacky subjective aesthetic taste thing...

...and the nature of the format, the film review, seems doubly ready made for mass consumption.

[domino harvey]

Oh, I will undoubtedly see this, and while I remain doubtful, I've eaten my words plenty of times

[Numero Trois]

Aronofsky made a certified masterpiece in the big screen adaptation of Requiem for a Dream.

Certified by whom? The American Dental Association? NAMBLA? The NRA? The World Association of Electroshock Survivors? I guess I'll beat on this dead horse as long as the "Aint it Cool" contigent praises this cinematic abortion.

That said, I do plan on watching the new film. His previous outing was his first watchable one. Maybe he's learned something.

[jbeall]

Andrew O'Hehir gushes over Black Swan.

I'm quite looking forward to this. My enthusiasm is tempered, however, because I'm ambivalent about Aronofsky; his ambition can result in such pretentiousness, especially in his earlier films. O'Hehir's review suggests that Black Swan has its eye-rolling moments--it is an Aronofsky film--but the strengths of his recent films have outweighed their weaknesses by a fair margin.

(And I'm with numero trois in my hostility toward the Ain't It Cool News crowd. Coincidentally, I first became aware of AICN because Harry Knowles' overwrought review was included in the booklet accompanying Requiem for a Dream. It remains one of the worst film reviews not penned by Armond White that I've ever read.)

[Tom Hagen]

I'm definitely interested now. O'Hehir is a critic whom I generally trust a great deal.

[lacritfan]

Mila Kunis wins Best Young Actor/Actress at Venice Film Festival.