Black Swan

Finally, some blood from Queen Amidala.

It's not often you see a movie claim this much audience without the use of some elaborate special effects, 3D, a compelling true story, an academy award winner cast or Jim Carrey/Steve Carrel (and look-alike) acting like idiots.

This Darren Aronofsky’s film has none of the above (granted, you can see Natalie Portman in an lesbian scene with Mila Kunis and Wynona Ryder stabbing herself in the face with a nail file).

There are, however, two very good reasons why one should watch such a ballet movie:

1. Aronofsy's directing, where his camera dangles between a shaky over-the-shoulder point of view and a plethora of close-ups, successfully used to get the viewer inside Portman's head.

2. Portman's coming of age, with the most significant performance in her career so far, finally making us forget Amidala or Evey (V for Vendetta). The viewer can actually watch this transformation on screen, as Nina (Portman's character) derails from her perfect juvenile and enclosed life (Princess Odette - the White Swan) and becomes more and more like Odette's evil sister, Odile, the Black Swan, free from any moral restrains. With this performance, not only does Portman becomes an Actress, per se, she finally becomes a Woman.

This alone is not enough to award this movie an Oscar for best picture, but the latter should, however, land in Portman's hands for Best Actress.

Although the ballet is pretty good (Portman’s dancing is excellent despite the use of a double at times and Aronofsky’s over-usage of medium shots in some dancing sequence) I wouldn't recommend popcorns & Coke for this one.

Name: Black Swan
Genre: Drama
Date of Release: 2010
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Actors: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel

Rating: 8/10