Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Release: Black Swan

It was quite a week.  I saw Black Swan the same day as The Fighter and what a day it was.  Black Swan is the story of two ballerinas getting ready to do a new production of Swan Lake.  Nina (Natalie Portman) has some issues with the new member of the company Lily (Mila Kunis) and is desperate to be what Thomas (Vincent Cassel) wants her to be.  However, there's so much to the movie that's visual I think I'll let you find it out yourself.  I would give the movie a solid 4.5/5 stars/lambs. Leaving the theater I felt paranoid and claustrophobic - this movie gets under your skin!

Here are some possible e-mails that went back and forth during the movie. 

Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 11:41:53
From: Nina
To: Lily
Subject: Welcome to the company!

Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 12:41:53
From: Lily
To: Nina
Subject: Thanks so much and Congratulations Ms. Swan Queen!!!

Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 14:41:53
From: Nina
To: Lily
Subject: Hey, maybe we could practice together a bit, Thomas thinks you’re sexy!

Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 20:45:53
From: Lily
To: Nina
Subject: Drinks were great, but your mom’s crazy!

Date: Thur, 6 Jan 2011 07:45:53
From: Nina
To: Lily
Subject: What time did you leave last night???

Date: Thur, 6 Jan 2011 09:45:53
From: Lily
To: Nina
Subject: Wow - I’m your understudy now!  Opening night, here we come!

Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 22:45:53
From: Nina
To: Lily
Subject: I can’t believe you slept with Thomas!  Slut! 

Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 22:45:53
From: Nina
To: Lily
Subject: Stay away from me – this is my role!  You can’t have it.

Date: Sat,  8 Jan 2011 23:45:53
From: Nina
To: Lily
Subject: I mean it, stop stalking me.  I am the White Swan AND the Black Swan – this is all I ever wanted, now leave me alone!!!!

Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 00:45:53
From: Nina
To: Lily
Subject: I am the best dancer in the world! 

Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2011 9:45:53
From: Lily
To: Thomas
Subject: I can’t believe what happened!  I swear I had nothing to do with it.

6 comments:

Sebastian Gutierrez said...

Dude! Same with me! I saw The Fighter and Black Swan on the same day. One of the most traumatizing theatre going experiences of my life!

And I agree wholeheartedly. This movie was brilliant! Just brilliant!

Ryan McNeil said...

Clever.

I walked into this expecting it to be more of THE WRESTLER, less REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. Imagine my surprise!

And for the record, I got to watch this the same day as NEVER LET ME GO. It was a bit of a bleak day at the theatres to be sure.

Jess said...

Sebastian - it was a trippy day seeing them both.

Hatter - Thanks. Requiem is up soon.

Rachel said...

If you loved Black Swan, I hope you'll like Requiem too (though you may have watched it by now). I'm so glad Aronofsky is getting back to films like that. The Wrestler was a great film, but a straight forward drama compared to his other works.

Fletch said...

Ha! I don't see Jess liking Requiem at all. And for the record, Black Swan is definitely more The Wrestler than Requiem. They're the same flick, just set in different worlds. And both pretty great.

I still need to see The Fighter...

Jess said...

Well, I landed somewhere between Rachel and Fletch on Requiem. Definitely will never need to see it again, but am now a bit in love with Aranofsky's style. Loved the scenes when they got high (wanted to watch that happen more) but them BEING high wasn't as interesting. Sad movie that was brilliantly made.