Black scrawl tattoo5/28/2023 ![]() This restriction isn’t just a matter of physical cues, either. Only she can free herself, and us, of her two-sizes-too-small shoes. ![]() This highly competent career high from Kunis won’t be forgotten, but it’s never enough to shake off being trapped underneath Portman’s desperation. On a side note, I’m still convinced Aronofsky’s The Fountain was scripted from a cocktail napkin scrawl he found in his jacket pocket. This release turns out to be a false start to Nina’s transformation, as morning afters often reveal them to be. Our tension is momentarily relieved by this, and by Nina’s hypersexual rival Lily, played loose by Mila Kunis before she introduces Nina to a nightlife of druglusty electronica laced with subliminal horror.Ī frame-by-frame of Black Swan’s club sequence will be necessary before we fully understand just how much skullfuckery it subjects us to. Look out for Requiem for a Dream’s “Ass to ass!” guy on the subway, one of numerous winks to the director’s earlier work. There’s still a fine scattering of dark humor, as usual. Let it be known the film remains this uncomfortable for 100 minutes, moreso than this year’s film 127 Hours, and that one’s about a man trapped under a rock. Centering her in the frames, Black Swan leaves little room for supporting cast members. Our being this closely drawn in to Portman serves to magnify her character’s loneliness. This pays off particularly well in Aronofsky’s finale, but the majority of our time is spent uncomfortably close to Nina.Īs much fun as the “Snorri” strap-on camera from Pi and Requiem for a Dream can be, this handheld approach taps into her anxiety in a more realistic way. There isn’t the same patient approach, but Super 16mm cameras from The Wrestler were employed to race from each pose to the next. That said, it’s the camera that does the dancing in Black Swan. Natalie Portman also brought herself back to the body weight of V for Vendetta, and I’ve only begun to cover her physical contribution. She’s trained her bony frame into one of solid stone and speaking of tattoos, the back muscles of dancers in Black Swan convey more history of punishment than those of twenty inked Yakuza. Wannabe-prima ballerina Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is wound tighter than Lisbeth Salander, and pulls it off without the aid of bondage wear and dragon tattoos. The film will be Swan Lake, and only one dancer will take the place of a company’s faded star. Maybe it’s the trailers and television spots but when the starting pistol goes off we’re gearing for a Shakespearean descent into madness. The first spoken words do not intend to be subtle. ![]() Black Swan gives us not a second glance, but a direct pipeline to the mind behind the camera. The movie uses the finer points of his earlier films to create something that is unique, but also clarifies his body of work for anyone struggling to make sense of it. It isn’t his last film, but it should close curtains on the first act of his career as a director. ![]() Ironically, Black Swan feels like the swan song of Darren Aronofsky. ![]()
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