Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky – 2010) A-

This was way more bizaar, dark and creepy than I expected. I went in without reading that muhc about it and expecting a drama about ballet, jealousy, backstabbing and perhaps some dark undertones. What I got was a fantastic psychological thriller and borderline horror film. It is at the same time beautiful but has that trademark Aronofsky rugged look. The film takes the high level stress of a high profile position (in this case Portman’s ballerina in Swan Lake) to the extreme that is at times painful to watch. Portman does an excellent job who manages to look like two different people at times depending on the “swan” she is playing. I also loved the performances by Vincent Cassel and Barbara Hershey as the eccentric/genious production director and the overbearing mother. Now are there any happy ballet dancers out there? Well, I suppose Mila Kunis’ Lily is one.