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A start of my review for Black Swan:
The highly-acclaimed Darren Aronofsky's new film Black Swan is an intense, demanding look at destructive subcultures, competition, and human extremes. Roger Ebert calls it "a full-bore melodrama, told with passionate intensity, gloriously and darkly absurd" and the New York Times introduced it as a "witchy brew of madness and cunning." For those with the appetite of such films, it is strongly recommended.
Aronofsky (and the cinematographers) must be commended for his skillful camera work, a central aspect of the movie. Ballet, to the learned and interested viewer, is a beautiful display of human art in action. The movements flow effortlessly and gracefully in admiring ways. But Aronofsky's desire is to give the dark side of the human background of the art, so his camera is consistently situated up-close, in an uncomfortable violation of space, which prohibits us from seeing the overall movement like a regular ballet audience member does. The camera is also slightly unsteady, conveying the sense of imbalance and unease. In the last 20 minutes of the film, when the actual play is being presented, the camera smoothly glides from back stages, to dressing rooms, to the main stage, showcasing the actor's faces in an exhilarating expose.
Natalie Portman plays the lead character, a ballerina who gets the lead in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and is a natural fit for the White Swan character. However, her director wants her to channel more energy into the subversive Black Swan character. In her pursuit of art, Portman goes from a sheltered, naive girl into a emotional wreck constantly walking the line between reality and psychological fantasy. Portman does neither role of her character with any exaggeration; it remains strong, but never over-the-top. She is the rightful fore-runner for the Academy Award's Best Actress, and this film will always come up as one of her best performances.
The director of the play, which Vincent Cassel could justifiably win Best Supporting Actor for, is a creep, though one might say that there is a method to his madness, which does get the best out of his performers and plays. He skillfully manipulates human beings, and abandons them away when they are of no use to his ends any longer. One who knows this is the tortured "has-been" Beth, played by Winona Ryder in a brief yet very effectual role. The mother of the ballerina is a subtle villain from the start. She is an impetus for the ballerina's breakdown, having sheltered her, mis-educated her, and the movie strongly indicates the ballerina was propped up as a continuation of the mother's own ballet career.
One might say that Black Swan exposes the inner world of young competitors. The destructive culture features abusive authorities, eating disorders, psychological manipulation, and an intense competition between young adults that leads to jealousy and hatred. The tattered and mismatched clothes the dancers wear throughout the film seem to be a reflection of their souls. After Portman's character gives her best performance, her worldview has been so restrained that they only thing she seems to believe she has left for her is either a situation like Beth's or like her mother's. And one wonders how many unfortunate former dancers in theater-towns like New York are now frustrated, jobless, and feel like failures in life through little fault of their own.
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