BLACK SWAN is a weird and engrossing film.  It blurs reality as you look into the life of a ballerina who is emotionally repressed and sheltered.  Her life starts to crack after she is chosen for the lead of SWAN LAKE.   Natalie Portman gives an electricfying performance.  Milla Kunis feels like she is playing yet another version of roles she ahs played.  

The imagery of BLACK SWAN is one of the stars in this film.  Darren Aronofsky manages to intertwine the world of ballet with the type of strange (and yet fascinating) imagery the director is known for.  Also the costume design for the production of SWAN LAKE inside the film is wonderfully designed.   All of these elements help back up Portman's performance. 

BLACK SWAN is a visual trip.  It gives you a character who seems to be stable only to have her bottled life unravel and also what is really real for the character as she tries to be the characters of the White Swan and the Black Swan.   Aronofsky is an interesting director.  BLACK SWAN is the second film of his I have watched (I also watched THE FOUNTAIN and tried to make it through Pi) and I look forward to his directing of the next WOLVERINE film.   This film is one of the most interesting and strange films I have seen in 2010.

this movie review is (c)1-3-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com