Natalie Portman's character, Annie, the Swan Queen, essentially sums this movie and her performance up with her closing words the right before the credits roll. I won't give them away, but I'm very confident that you'll have similar feelings as I did towards Darren Aronofsky's incredible achievement, Black Swan.
Aronofsky film is incredibly casted, with performances by Portman and Mila Kunis, already garnering Golden Globe nominations. Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder round out an ensemble that brings so much emotion and character their respective roles. But, paramount to all of these performances is Portman's, who truly showcases her acting and dancing chops in the picture. She portrays a fragile character who during 2 hours the audience watches transform into essentially the complete opposite of who she was at the films inception (Yep, I just slipped the word inception into a description of her performance, what of it?) I'll be baffled if she isn't given a Best Actress nomination for this role.
To say a little bit about the plot though, it follows the life of Annie, a veteran ballerina as she is given the lead role in a heralded dance instructors re-imagination of the ballet production of Swan Lake. Along the way, Annie is tried and tested by her rival dancers, her over protective mother and her manipulative instructor. It all comes to a thrilling finish on opening night when The Swan Queen gives a performance that none will soon forget.
The most amazing aspect of this film to me was Aronofsky's camera work. The angles, uses of mirrors and over the shoulder shots are incredible. He utilizes them in a way that jolt emotion into the audience because the point of view either hides certain things from them or quickly reveals them. Combine this with Clint Mansell's original music and you have a suspenseful thriller that is truly menacing and very sexual.
See Black Swan, as soon as you can.
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