A special trip to see this one... well coordinated with other things in Chicago, but still.
BLACK SWAN (2010)
The latest from Darren Aronofsky is enough to get excited about... but that creepy and beautiful poster? I was waiting and waiting for this movie to come up to Rockford (Natalie Portman as a ballerina? C'mon, that's mainstream enough!) but I couldn't wait any longer. This movie delivers incredibly well, staying within the scope of an artistic struggle while layering just as much psychological, surreal, and dark elements as can be handled into a perfect suspensful mix. After leaving the theater, I realized that I could judge this film based on whether or not I'm interested in this type of story, and in a way that COULD bring it down a few pegs, just because ballet and the torments of artistic endeavors don't pack a real power to me. As the best films do over time, I started to contemplate Black Swan even more, and it's themes began to haunt me more. Because the symbology and just fanstasticalness of the ballet Swan Lake create a very dramatic and cinematic framework to demonstrate the main character's personal struggle, and it's executed perfectly. However, what lengths would you go to in order to achieve a perfect victory, at work, in a personal situation, or in a project that has meaning and power to other people? To completely succeed in her endeavor, Natalie Portman's character had to open up the whole spectrum of her repressed emotions and memories, and in her physical sacrifices she had to make moral sacrifices as well to do a perfect performance. When you see multimillionaires achieve greatness, yet remain unhappy and morally compromised through their personal actions, it makes you think at what point does the struggling to achieve something end and the morally questionable actions or philosophies to reach that accomplishment begin. Slowly but surely, Black Swan became personal to me.
More about this, for sure, in my top 10 wrap up of the year coming as soon after Dec. 31st as possible.
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