Black Swan

[Sarah Palin]

Just saw this today. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Good mind fuck about ones troubles with rivals. I'm also a big fan of Darren Aranofsky, the director (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler). Anyone else have any thoughts? Well worth seeing

[Os Cangaceiros]

I've seen three Aronofsky films (Pi, Requiem For A Dream and The Fountain) and all three were let-downs for me, so I'm not particularly keen on seeing this.

[Political_Chucky]

Aronfsky directed the fountain? I love that movie. It was a really great visual and storyline in my opinion.

I have a few friends who saw the fountain and the first thing they told me was about the sex scene:blushing:

[Lobotomy]

I really want to see Black Swan. It looks great and I've heard nothing but good things about it.

[Tavarisch_Mike]

I watched it yesterday! with some girl friends that are into ballet and since that not really my thing i was skeptical, but now i have to say that this was a really good movie good acting, good story, foto and so on it is really not so much about ballet but more of a menthally thriller where you really get into the main charcthers mind.
Something like a combo of The Wrestler and The Machinist.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I've seen three Aronofsky films (Pi, Requiem For A Dream and The Fountain) and all three were let-downs for me, so I'm not particularly keen on seeing this.I only like Pi and absolutely HATED "Requiem". I have problems with this director and so based on what you wrote, maybe wait for the video.

That being said, the movie kept me on the edge of my seat and made my palms sweat throughout; the acting was fantastic; I felt it was worth my time and money.

But it was also very flawed IMHO. This director has shit pacing - all his movies stay at one level of intensity with no ups or downs. Cinematic techniques and symbolism were totally ham-handed - every shot had some kind of split-image that Hitchcock and Polanski like to use to show splits in a character's personality (but they would use it in specific points and only sparingly). But after about 20 of these shots in the first half-hour I was close to yelling at the screen: "OK I get it!" It was the kind of "symbolism" that film-students would put into their first movie when they are trying to prove themselves. Ironically while the film dealt with a protagonist who approached her art in a cold and overly methodical way, I felt the director does the same thing - what should have been passionate often came across to me as a little gimmicky.

I was on the edge of my seat from tension, but I felt that a lot of the uncomfortableness was a bit exploitative and based on things that we all know make people uncomfortable (hangnails) rather than relying on psychological discomfort. I also thought the "reason" for the protagonists problems was all too trite and easy when it would have been much more interesting to me if they had gone more into the theme of modern ballet (and the arts in general) expecting performers to meet unobtainable and often contradictory ideals: women have to be nuns and whores, performers have to be perfect but make it look improvised, the arts have to pretend to be above money and profits yet must also whore and get donations to stay afloat.

[Sarah Palin]

.
Something like a combo of The Wrestler and The Machinist.

Funny you mention the Wrestler. I read an interview with aranofsky where he said he planned to have this movie and the wrestler as companion films, but that they are far to different for one narrative. So now we have the two. But I definitely see the similarities

[Permanent Revolutionary]

I absolutely loved this movie. I thought it had great pacing, and the conflict between the superego (mother) and Lily (the id) about the control of Nina (the ego) in the middle was very good.

We're even forced to consider if the mother even exists and isn't just inside Nina's head.
It will probably take the Best Picture Oscar next month.

[blake 3:17]

I thought it was fantastic. A lot of the dance rehearsal sequences are just stunning visually, outside of the plot.


I thought it had great pacing, and the conflict between the superego (mother) and Lily (the id) about the control of Nina (the ego) in the middle was very good.

It had a Hitchcockian psychoanalytic dimension I hadn't really thought through.

It reminded me a lot of Polanski's Repulsion (a film I love) but simultaneously more palatable and more disturbing. There are amazing bits where it shifts from "reality" to Portman's POV.

My winter coat has been shedding feathers, and I've been joking that I'm turning into the White Swan.

Anybody know Swan Lake? I've never seen it performed.

[Diello]

It reminded me a lot of Polanski's Repulsion

Reading that sentence has increased my desire to see this film tenfold.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Reading that sentence has increased my desire to see this film tenfold.Meh, this director is to Polanski, what Brian De Palma is to Hitchcock.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

That's a bit harsh.

Aronofsky isn't a bad actor :P

[x359594]

That's a bit harsh. Aronofsky isn't a bad actor :P

What's he acted in?

Polansky has one major acting role in The Tenant and he was pretty good, and his bit part in Chinatown was memorable. Hitchcock has the briefest of appearances in his movies; his only lengthy scene is in Blackmail (1929) where he plays a commuter annoyed by the rambunctious kid in the seat next to him, and Hitchcock's comic timing was good.

[Os Cangaceiros]

What's he acted in?

Polansky has one major acting role in The Tenant and he was pretty good, and his bit part in Chinatown was memorable.

What about The Fearless Vampire Killers.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Yeah, I liked him in the Tenant - better than the French actors in it anyway. I never pull things out of holes in the wall after seeing that movie.:lol:

[x359594]

What about The Fearless Vampire Killers.

Forgot about that one. Yeah, he showed he was good in a comic role.

[La Comédie Noire]

I've liked everything I've seen from the man so far except for Requiem for a dream. (Fucking hated it)

I saw Black Swan in theaters and what can I say? Some people have charged this movie with being "convoluted" because the main character's decent into madness wasn't realistic. I thought the same thing till I realized the movie wasn't supposed to be a realistic portrayal of mental illness. It's supposed to be a rendition of swan lake.

With that in mind I didn't see what the big deal with this movie was, but then again I couldn't see what the big deal was with Inception either. I think it has to do with the fact I read too much cinema news and get caught up in the hype. I also think because I read so much I'm used to a more engaging experience than cinema can provide. But hell I was fully immersed in the Dark Knight and True Grit.

I guess I just like shitting on peoples' parades. I remember letting slip at a party full of people I didn't think the Dark Knight was the greatest movie ever made. That turned into about 20 minutes of me being wrong, if you ever sat in on an intervention or a religious conversion you'd get the picture. The culmination of which had me saying to a friend

"Fine the Dark Knight is your church and Heath Ledger is your martyred saint!"

I thought Black Swan was going to be another one of those movies, but other people I've talked to agree it was simply a good movie.

[Diello]

What do those of you in the thread who are Polanski fans think of

A) The Ninth Gate

and

B) Macbeth

[Das war einmal]

Why does everyone hate on 'Requiem for a dream'? I just watched it yesterday and I thought it was really worth watching, both from an artistic standpoint as for the story.
then I watched 'Black Swan' straight away. Both movies were very discomforting, but 'requiem' was a bit more unforgiving for the viewer.

[x359594]

Why does everyone hate on 'Requiem for a dream'? ...

Requiem for a Dream was a black comedy that never let up, one reason why it was misunderstood. By the way, that's Hubert Selby (author of the novel on which the film was based) playing the cop beating the black guy and saying, "Die ni**er, die."

[Property Is Robbery]

Black Swan was definitely much better than I expected. Why all the hate on Requiem for a Dream? Honestly, I'm curious.

[praxis1966]

To be perfectly honest, I rather liked Black Swan as far as major Hollywood productions go. I did have my grievances (which I aired in short to Jimmy Higgins the other night, lol), some superficial, some not so much. On a superficial level, I went in thinking, "No way do either Mila Kunis or Natalie Portman make it as professional ballet dancers. They're both too short. It's like casting Tom Cruise as a professional football player." Apart from that, I do agree with the complaints of others that certain things were done hamfistedly, especially thematically. It became obvious pretty early on that Aronofsky was simply reworking Swan Lake... Vincent Cassel shouting repeatedly, "You're the White Swan" over and over again lol... And just in case you're too stupid to get what's going on, he put a nice bow on it for you by listing Kunis as the Black Swan, Cassel the Prince, and Portman the White Swan instead of using their character's names in the closing credits. Anyway, like I said, I actually liked it despite all that. Fairly entertaining.

At the end of the day, though, I have to hammer away at it until somebody listens. If you only see one Best Picture Oscar nominee this year, True Grit, people, fuckin' True Grit. If it tells anyone anything, in the last 20 years there have been all of three Westerns that I can honestly say I loved: Dead Man (Jarmusch, 1995), The Proposition (Hillcoat, 2005), and True Grit (Coen brothers, 2010).

[brigadista]

i enjoyed Black Swan but the dancing is horrible...

[HalPhilipWalker]

Black Swan was definitely much better than I expected. Why all the hate on Requiem for a Dream? Honestly, I'm curious.

I would say it's because Requiem for a Dream came off like one of those antidrug films from the '30s. It's a very one note movie with all but one character an addict from the start and it was over-the-top in dramatizing what happens to drug addicts. Also, it wasn't too accurate with regards to the effects of said drugs as well.

[x359594]

I would say it's because Requiem for a Dream came off like one of those antidrug films from the '30s. It's a very one note movie with all but one character an addict from the start and it was over-the-top in dramatizing what happens to drug addicts. Also, it wasn't too accurate with regards to the effects of said drugs as well.

In another words, it was a black comedy of such darkness that a lot of people didn't get it. Rather like taking Swift's A Modest Proposal at face value.

[Metacomet]

This was the most............twitchy movie I've ever seen.

Only word I can find to describe it at the moment. Very good though.........

[Meridian]

I would say it's because Requiem for a Dream came off like one of those antidrug films from the '30s. It's a very one note movie with all but one character an addict from the start and it was over-the-top in dramatizing what happens to drug addicts. Also, it wasn't too accurate with regards to the effects of said drugs as well.
Uh not really, the movie does show how it can go if you become a drug addict, but it's also about a lot of other stuff. It doesn't come off like an antidrug film at all, except maybe if you're a drug addict yourself and heavily in denial, I guess.

[9]

saw black swan last weekend. thought it was pretty bad and way overrated; in other words, typical aronofsky. it seemed like practically nothing even happened in the film until it started approaching the climax like 55 minutes in (and then it just got really ridiculous). pretty unimpressive.

[Il Medico]

It was better than i expected, honestly. Found it to be rather enjoyable. Much more so than most films i've seen in theaters recently.