I Just Wanted It to be Perfect ... Everything for Perfection!

Black Swan (2010)

A Review by Ben Hunter

5 Out of 5 Stars

A WORK ... OF ART!

Clint Mansell did a BRILLIANT job on the score!!  Matthew Libatique did and EXCELLENT job on the cinematograpy!!  During the dance sequences, I loved how the camera gracefully followed the characters of interest in that scene.  The editing was consistent and stable throughout, not out of pace, out of control and all over the place.  Darren Aronofsky (director of this film), you have completely out done yourself here!  I didn't know how you could top "The Wrestler", but you did.  I can't wait for the next film now!

This film captures that essence of storytelling that all filmmakers yearn to accomplish.  We get into Nina's (Natalie Portman) very psyche and see what she's thinking.  Aronosfsky shows us, he doesn't tell us.  I totally could see where Nina was coming from, why she did what she did, and what was happening. 

From the opening scene it put me in that mood that just sucks me into this world and says, "Stop thinking about what's going on in your world and focus on what's going on in THIS world! ... NOW!!"

Everything was set up properly.  Nothing came out of nowhere, even though it seemed like things were coming out of nowhere in the essence of that horror/suspense/thriller genre of storytelling.  When something unusual or striking would happen, I quickly backtracked for literally 1 or 2 seconds and easily made sense of why this unusual occurrence was taking place.  Every set up had a pay off, that's so important when telling a story and I could see that Aronofsky really put effort in making sure the points aligned before he focused on "the cool special effects that will wow and bedazzle people who see this film!"

Most male viewers liked how the 2 leads, which are female, engage in sexual activity in the movie's trailer which probably led them to see the film.  But that scene was totally necessary and how it came about was perfect.  I totally understood why they did what they did, and how it was portrayed was still very classy, yet entertaining, and it revealed exactly what it should have to keep me into what was going to happen next in this story.  I wasn't just solely into the fact that "2 chicks were making out", etc.  This is a perfect example of how you have a juicy subject/scene in your movie and how you can still make it into something beautiful which innovates something special about your film.  Another reason why this is a work of art!

We all can connect with someone who works too hard and is just trying to make everything they experience in their life perfect.  Someone who's caught up in trying to be perfect in everything they do and have everything in their life go exactly they way they planned.  If we don't know someone personally, we still can connect with this character because this was cleverly revealed to us in this film and Natalie Portman did a good job becoming this character, Nina.  So because we've been properly informed about why Nina is the way she is, we care as to why she's struggling in her profession, in her life, given the added mental trauma she deals with, all in addition to the pressure from her mother, etc ... we were properly informed as to why this all was happening. 

But it all was given in simple portions that we can easily take in, little by little to reveal a masterpiece in the end that we can truly appreciate; because we've taken in a little of this big thing and chipped away at it little by little all throughout this movie going experience.  So we now know exactly what it is that we've been taking in come the end of the movie and it all makes sense!  Leaving us with a feeling of completion.  Despite the fact if a particular movie may not have a happy ending.  

Black Swan is an adult movie that's of a world that I strive to become apart of every day!  That classy, upscale, intellectual life where the people of that world enjoy classy things like the ballet.  That is why I highly recommend it to anyone who can take adult situations being portrayed in front of them and don't get their moral compass jolted so easily.

Hands down in my top 5 of the year!

Black Swan
Thriller, 108 Minutes, R

Written by: Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, and John McLaughlin

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, & Vincent Cassel