Black Swan
So I finally watched it. I have already mentioned couple of times that I don't really like Aronofsky based on three films I've seen (Pi, The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream). Only Requiem was tolerable, the other two, with their crudely, superficially depicted, self-important themes, I hated. That said, Black Swan is the best so far (I have yet to see the Wrestler), but that's not saying much. I liked it mainly because I have a soft spot for psychological thrillers and it worked in its favor that Aronofsky kept things simple. No big themes of life and death, meaning of the universe etc that he can't handle. The story is pretty straightforward, artist struggling to get in touch with her dark side and bring it forward through self-sacrifice. So this is something that gives a chance for some complex psychological portrait, but that wasn't explored beyond the surface and always in the most obvious ways. That's my gripe, it could have been a great film, but is only an okay psychological thriller/horror like many others and certainly not worthy of all the praise it got.
*****MINOR SPOILERS*****
I liked that Aronofsky used close-ups and that really helped Natalie Portman's performance and a sense of paranoia and trap. I guess it was somewhat of a necessity, so that he could avoid as much as he can detailed depicting of dancing. But, too much close-ups soon lost its effect by the end of the film. It seems like Aronofsky is not very subtle, not very good in mixing things up, too dependent on repetitions through the film. Not to mention that he likes to bang his audience over the head with obviousness, just in case we don't miss something. So here, he made sure that the we were always aware of the duality of white and black swan through such means that Nina usually wears white outfit and Lily black (really!?). On top of that (or on top of Nina) we see a tattooed black wings on Lily's back (aha!). Characters are very thin, which is not a big deal for Lily as she can be seen as Nina's projection of who she wants to be. But character of Nina herself is also rather thin. There's no real duality in her which is important for the film's main theme. She's paranoid, scared, struggling from the start, a real mess. Throughout the film she just becomes progressively worse, but that's not really a transformation from light to dark. So what are her excursions into darkness? She masturbates, goes out, drinks and takes drugs, hooks up with some guy, she swears in front of her mother, rebels, has a lesbian fantasy. And that's it. Really! And all of a sudden, the black feathers are growing from her back. Natalie Portman's performance was very good for what she was asked to do, but she didn't have much of a character.
OK, I'll stop with complaining. It's just that I have more to say about what I didn't like than about what I liked. Despite all that I enjoyed this film from start to finish, it wasn't boring, and I will always enjoy a solid thriller/horror unless it's really stupid. But I have to say, this one is not even one of the best of its genre, let alone some masterpiece it was proclaimed to be. This kind of film is usually not nominated for Oscar (regardless of its quality), so that was kind of surprising at first. Never underestimate the power of hype.
I also enjoyed picking apart "homages" to other films and directors. OK, Aronofsky himself said (I think I read somewhere) that Polanski's Repulsion was a big influence. And yes I can see that, but not as much as I see Dario Argento, especially Suspiria, and Brian De Palma's Carrie. To me, Aronofsky's fanboying was pretty obvious.
Phew! Who manages to read all this, gets a cookie.
