The Academy awards had just finished and I’m in the mood to watch movies which have won on that prestigious night. Black Swan was one of them. The movie’s female lead won the Academy award for best actress. I was curious if she indeed deserved to win. It was funny that Oscars awards host Anne Hathaway joked during the awards night that when you shed some skin, you would get a nomination. So Natalie Portman did some nudity?
Well, not really but almost. I believe she portrayed the role perfectly well. Natalie Portman showed various emotions in all of her scenes. She truly deserved the award. Apart from the Oscars, she also won best actress in Golden Globes, Screen Actor’s Guild and some other award-giving bodies. Wow!
The movie was about a production called Swan Lake. The director had to cast a new ballet dancer to replace the retiring lead of the show. The lead character would need to portray both white swan who’s innocent & fragile and black swan who’s sensual & evil.
Nina (Portman’s character) along with some other dancers were shortlisted for the role. Nina was perfect for the white swan role but doesn’t quite fit with the black swan role while Lily (Mila Kunis’ character) was perfect for the black swan role. The director wasn’t really going to choose Nina until she visited his office to request for the role. He forced a kiss on Nina. Nina, being so sheltered by her mom, bit the director & stormed away.
Nina apparently got the role. She still didn’t dance that great as black swan and had been criticized much for it during rehearsals. The director had been pushing her to start letting go of herself while dancing as black swan.
Nina also had hallucinations & delusions which also affected her and her upcoming show.
You have to see the movie in order to see how her psychotic symptoms affected Nina and her performance in the Swan Lake. How one big ambition can affect a young girl and her future.
I did feel a bit uncomfortable watching the movie coz there were scenes not suited for children. I was with my mom when I watched the movie, my gosh! hahaha! Anyway, the acting were really great among the cast. Natalie Portman did an excellent job as Nina as well as Mila Kunis for her role as Lily.
You’ll definitely see a different Natalie Portman in Black Swan. Don’t miss it!
My Rating for Black Swan: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Yikes. I love the film but this is not something I would recommend to depressive friends. I felt like dying after watching it. (As I said in my review: “I went into the cinema being all bubblegum genki and went out of there with a heavy chest, accompanied by labored breathing and the desire to run a stake through my heart.”) Masakit siya sa puso kasi parang nilabas niya yung struggle ng viewers within themselves kahit na hindi naman related ang mga problema namin kay Nina.
And my friend who’s clinically depressed became physically sick (I’m guessing psychosomatic). For me, it was a wrong movie choice… at least, at the time that we watched it. So I’m staying away from Aronofsky’s films.
Normally, you don’t bring your “depressed” friends to go watch psychological thrillers. How about inviting them to watch comedy/love story next time. XD
or you can always enter the movie house as a pervert and wait for “those natalie portman scenes” *insert Muttley laugh*
Aronofsky’s works are great! Black Swan is very good! :3
reading the comments made me not want to watch black swan. 🙁