I love going to see a movie with Oscar buzz, especially if I walk out of the theatre feeling like the film is worth the buzz. Black Swan fits perfectly into that category. I’d been wanting to see this movie for quite a while, and Darren Aronofsky (director) did not let me down.
Black Swan is thrillingly haunting. The entire film is a girl’s life as a metaphor for the ballet Swan Lake, which eventually turns to an unfortunate series of events. This girl is Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), who lands the role as the Queen Swan in the company’s first ballet of the opening season, which is Swan Lake. She beats out many other girls and replaces veteran Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder – seriously) in this role.
The ballet’s director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), tells her that he has already cast Veronica (Ksenia Solo) when she asks for a word in his office the morning after her principle audition, when she basically ruined her chance. She is just too sweet and virginal. Her words did not convince him, but when he makes a move and kisses her, she bites his lip. That little bit of passion does. He casts her as both the white and black swans.
After that first ten minutes, the final hour and a half of the film follows her preparation for opening night. The pressure this role forces upon her basically turns her into a paranoid schizophrenic. The correlation between her downward spiral to greatness and the story of Swan Lake makes the film. These caveats make this film more than a movie. Everything about Black Swan is deep and follows through until the end.
Nina’s relationship with her mother (Barbara Hershey) is the classic mother-became-pregnant-so-she-spawns-her-dreams-of-what-could-have-been-upon-her-daughter, but Aronofsky takes it to another level because he links their psyches of controlled perfection to each other’s dreams. The other relationship is with new dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), which is friendship that Nina imagines to be much more, from lovers to a surreptitious rival. Thomas also tries to build more of a relationship with Nina than director-dancer, but his advances only help to enable her to reach her potential as the mysterious black swan.
The casting in this film is perfection. Natalie Portman deserves that Oscar she’ll win for this role. Her portrayal is truly haunting. She plays almost two juxtaposed roles with the same end goal – one of this sweet ballet dancer who dreams of nothing but to be infallible, and this obsessed neurotic who won’t let anyone get in her way to opening night.
Winona Ryder, though not in the film for more than ten minutes, brings to life, and almost death, this starlet of ballets past. Her psychotic has-been stands out so much that her scenes are perhaps the most thrilling of the film.
Mila Kunis. Who knew that Jackie Burkhart could actually act? Although this won’t happen, I would adore for her to win some notable award for this role, á la one from The Academy. Due to Nina’s psychological disturbance, Kunis almost has to play two roles as well – one of a friend and one as an underhanded adversary.
Barbara Hershey evocates raw passion as the overprotective stage mother from whom Nina seemingly inherits her disorders, from eating to mental. Vincent Cassel nails his role as a narcissistic and manipulative jerk who thinks he can make anyone in his life do anything he wants. He doesn’t know what too far is.
If you can’t tell, you should go see this film before you see any other one. I was so intrigued that I didn’t even check the clock on my phone once to see how much more time should pass until the credits begin rolling, and that’s definitely saying something.
Love and Other Drugs is a serious film. About what, you ask? All the subject matter. It’s serious about Viagra. It’s serious about sex. It’s serious about nudity. Believe it or not, it’s actually pretty serious about what happens in a relationship when one person is terminally sick.
This guy named Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is Mr. I Can Get Any Woman Into Bed. He lives to make money and simultaneously screw as many women as possible. He’s also Mr. Suave. On a side note, actors are called actors for a reason, I really hope Gyllenhaal is not method acting in any way, shape or form. Anyway, Jamie, a drug rep, is trying to get Dr. Knight (Hank Azaria) to write Zoloft instead of Prozac, which is pimped by this competing douchebag, Trey Hannigan.
While impersonating as an intern to Dr. Knight (because the doctor tells him to do) in this effort to schmooze him, he walks into a room with 26-year-old, stage-one Parkinson’s patient, Maddie Murdock (Anne Hathaway). Not only does she list every single medicated and dosage she takes, she is wondering about a spot on her breast; so, not thinking anything about it, she pulls out her breast (nipple and all) and asks the doctor about the spot, which turns out to be a spider bite. The next scene shows her hitting Jamie over the head with her purse and yells at him about the prior incident. He then starts his normal, charming bs, and she calls him on it. He is intrigued by her lack of becoming-weak-in-the-knees at his every quip, so he calls the nurse, Cindy (whom he’s bedded) and begs her to give him Maddie’s phone number. She does, which if you know anything about HIPPA law, you could wind up spending at least a few months in jail if the patient decides to take legal action. Anyway, he asks Maddie out, and, after several attempts, she agrees and tells him to meet her at the coffee shop where she works.
After a 5 minute conversation where she basically tells in that all he’s want from her is sex. Then they go back to her apartment. After several months of being eff buddies, they begin an exclusive relationship, and he makes finding a cure for her Parkinson’s his new life goal. Mix that with the normal dram-com stuff, but with excellent acting, wittier dialogue and well-written dramatic moments. Then they break up. Will they get back together for a happy ending or does she die almost alone in her apartment with him discovering her as she’s almost gone? You’ll have to go see it to find out!
I don’t love this film as much as I loved it yesterday, when I saw it, but I actually do love it. If you go into the theatre thinking that its your normal dram-com, don’t go see it. I was shocked by the amount of nudity; although, Jake Gyllenhaal’s booty isn’t too bad of a moment (again and again and again…). I was also shocked by the amount of sex. This is one of those movies that goes all out with those scenes. Don’t take your teenagers to see this because they loved The Princess Diaries or think Jake Gyllenhaal is hot. It’s too mature, nor appropriate.
Overall, this is a well-done film. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway are actors that have the ability to actually act without me thinking about the actors themselves, but they are actually those characters. Although not aforementioned, Josh Gad plays Josh Randall, Jamie’s millionaire brother who sleeps on his couch while he’s separated from his wife. He made me laugh in every scene that he appeared. He steals the spotlight from both Gyllenhaal and Hathaway. Hank Azaria is also amazing, yet dryly hilarious. All through the film, I was thinking, “I know this actor. What is his name? He’s excellent in every film I’ve seen him.” This morning it finally hit me. He is this doctor to a tee.
In case you haven’t heard, this film is also getting major Oscar buzz, along with every other less-acclaimed award show buzz.
Although my predictions haven’t always been accurate (remember when I said Sandra Bullock wouldn’t get an Oscar nomination, much less win, for her role in The Blind Side? I do.) I would say a nomination for Hathaway and the film. If Gyllenhaal gets lucky, him as well.
Go see it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
