Movie Review: Black Swan

Photo courtesy of Google Images

Black Swan is a movie that has been sitting in my hard drive for quite some time. I've been waiting for the perfect time to watch it and tonight was just the night. I put the bag of popcorn in the microwave and melted some butter to put the cherry on top of my perfect night. 

The film, to me, was more than perfect. It stars Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers, The Swan Queen next to Lily, The Black Swan (Mila Kunis), Erica Sayers, The Queen (Barbara Hershey) and Beth Macintyre, The Dying Swan (Winona Ryder). 

The good:

The film was put in so much hype. One, it starred in my point of view, Hollywood's next Audrey Hepburn - Natalie Portman. Portman exuded her role with much grace and beauty. The thing I love about her is that I think she's very flexible - she's conservative and well put-together in this film unlike her character in her previous movie, Closer, where she portrayed a much sexier role.

Two, Mila Kunis is one of the hottest ladies I've rested my eyes upon. She's gorgeous and she's out there, letting herself go - a character that's far deviated from Portman's. I suppose it was hard to find a suitable Black Swan that would stand next to Portman, her being the The Swan Queen, but Kunis was able to emanate confidence that matched Portman's on the silver screen.

Three, the film in itself captured the grace and elegance of a woman, which I very much liked. The ballet shoes and the tutus were like eye candy and a dance room surrounded with mirrors couldn't be more pleasing to the eye. I guess I'm taking it a little personal with this review than usual maybe because I have a thing for movies that are focused towards dancing. But I guess the real focus in this film was Portman's role and how she struggled through her casting as The Swan Queen which leads me to...

The bad:

I would say the film isn't for everyone. Not everyone would get what the movie is all about when they first watch it. The film manifests Nina as a ballerina who wants and has taken the top notch role in the next season of ballet. She's a daughter of a former ballerina, Erica, who had given up her career to have Nina as her child. Erica, therefore, is a stage mother - one who is proud of her daughter's work and one who's there to support Nina become all the things she's not. Evidently, she's very protective of her daughter in a weird, fearful way that made me think she was holding Nina back at some point - and this is one part of the movie I do not understand. I do not know if Erica knows what goes on in Nina's head or if she was the one who made her that way.

I hated the fact that Winona Ryder was casted as The Dying Swan, someone destructive and already out of the picture. Ryder had a supporting role and I wish she could've played a character that issues more impact to the audience. See, what happened was, Beth Macintyre was thrown onto the screen here and there for some scenes - important ones, I counter - but I didn't get enough.

The film, I would also say, works on the psychological aspect of the human brain and in my point of view, that's what makes it interesting and worth watching. Although, I would have to point out that the movie is quite intricate and more like an abstract painting - everyone could see it but it's meaning couldn't be seen through the naked eye. It calls for more thinking, and I suppose the audience should let the film linger in their minds - and maybe that's the beauty of it. No pain, no gain.