We saw Black Swan yesterday. I almost didn’t go because vegging in front of some televised bowl game sounded more appealing than going out on a cold day.
But I did go and I was rewarded with an amazing film. Natalie Portman should win that famous gold statuette for her performance as the obsessive, perfectionist ballerina being driven to even more obsessive and perfectionist behavior by her mother (Barbara Hershey, surely also an Oscar contender), the ballet company director (Vincent Cassel) and the perceived competition (Mila Kunis, a long way from “That 70s Show”). Winona Ryder is remarkable as well, as the ballet’s faded star. Portman is, I believe, in every scene, portraying from one take to the next every emotion I’ve ever heard of and some I hadn’t.
A stunning film. A film that you leave wondering what was real and what was fantasy. A movie with a plot based on performance of a story that is itself a metaphor.
And isn’t the point of movies to make you wonder?
Oh, and Tchaikovsky’s music and the ballet were wonderful.
The other day we saw The Kids Are All Right with Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. Bening and Moore portray a couple with children ages 18 and 15. The children introduce their sperm donor into the family and drama ensues — mid-life crises come to even unconventional relationships. Bening especially is superb in this entertaining comedy with serious, but mostly warm undertones.
So, Portman and Bening are the Oscar front runners. Sounds like you think it should go to Portman?
Saw, “The Fighter” yesterday. I thought this was a very good film and Christian Bale was excellent. I’m not much on boxing and bloody sports but this was a great movie. I think you’d enjoy it.
Going to see, “Black Swan” tomorrow.
I really liked The Kids Are Alright – I thought the story was good and important and both of the leads were great in it. I really disliked Black Swan. I was so disappointed. There is no doubt Natalie Portman was fantastic in it (she is good in everything), the dancing was awesome, and I loved the look/feel of the apartment to advance the mental illness cause. But, in my view, the movie was completely pretentious, and it’s use of the all the Swan Lake themes and symbolism was just so over-the-top, heavy handed, nothing subtle or clever. On a completely random note (but in a beautiful intersection of kid culture and pop culture), I realized that Natalie Portman’s fiancee and co-star, Benjamin Millepied, is featured on the last page of the classic “Olivia Helps With Christmas,” where Olivia dreams of dancing in the Nutcracker. The fact that I recognized him disturbs me.