Ugly Duckling

So, as you may have noticed from my last post, I am a massive Natalie Portman fan. But I will try my best not to blather on about how amazing she is in this film just because of that, and make sure I take a look at the full picture. Portman aside,  Black Swan is just a brilliant film. it dares to be different by blurring the lines of genre, not letting you know until the final scenes of the film, what type of beast it is trying to be. Is it a drama? A thriller? Coming of age romance? Horror? Well it ticks all of these boxes at different points in the film, but I feel the best way to catch it would be to describe it as a psychological drama.

The focus of this is entirely on Portman's character Nina, a ballet dancer and perfectionist, who is trying to make her name known in her dance company. We see her striving to portray ballet in its purest most defined form, but encountering resistance from the company head, who is looking for passion, not perfection. the battle between these two facilities are embodied with the roles of the white and black swan's from the company's production of Swan Lake. By giving both roles to one dancer, they are encouraging the ability to be able to embody both side of the psyche, the light and the dark, the chaste and the sensual. when Nina is presented the opportunity to play this part, the film documents her struggle to find the balance between them.
As mentioned above, Nina is a perfectionist, but also a very naive and innocent character. Her relationship with her mother is downright weird, and she seems to have been kept in a bubble to prevent her from growing up. A sort of emotional arrested development. It is this side of Nina's character which makes her standout to the company's head as the perfect candidate for the white swan. Now all is left is for events to transpire to allow her to embody the titular black swan. These events are induced by four main players in Nina's life, who appear to be all too familiar with the black swan mantra.

Firstly their is Vincent Cassel, playing the dance company's head, Thomas. He is a character that you love to hate. He is smooth, charismatic, but a bit of a sex fiend. He uses the excuse of lust to try and evoke the manner of the black swan from Nina, and maneges to get up close and personal with her in order to help develop that side of her. He also jumps between his alternative nurturing methods with Nina, and a few other dancers he is trying to inspire. So although you are fully aware that he is an absolute shit, you can't help but want to be a bit like him. And Cassel plays him perfectly. Almost every word of dialogue smolders as if it is a double entendre. And the performance comes across as completely effortless.

Then there is Mila Kunis' Lily. Much the female version of Thomas, she seeks the lustful and joyful side of life as a point of everyday living, rather than just in the dance studio. She holds herself with a sultriness and likability, which would have proved difficult for another actress, but again effortlessly take it in her stride. And her ability to turn her intensity on and off becomes more apparent and impressive upon repeat viewings, when you are more aware that a lot of Lily's scenes are imaginations from Nina's perspective.

Nina's mother Erica is played by Barbara Heshey, set out as an overbearing yet doting mother, who is looking to live her failed ballet career through her daughter. We are introduced to her in early scenes preparing Nina for dance school like a little girl would preen a doll. This shows that emotional stunting of Nina seems almost genetic in line with her family. But it is the overbearing nature of Erica, which catalyses many of Nina's more notable outbursts, and her later outbursts and impulses mirror her mother's that are shown in the earlier stages of the film. Nina's complicated relationship with her mother is best shown when she, under instruction from Thomas, starts to masturbate in her own room. Only to open her eyes and find her mother sleeping next to her bed. This proves a clear metaphor for how her mother's presence has stunted her sexual and personal growth.

The final player who is not as prominent in the narrative, is Winona Ryder's Beth. She does however play an important part in how Nina develops as a character. Beth is the star of the company, but when we are introduced to the world, is on the brink of retirement. She acts as Nina's idealistic version of herself, of the dancer and performer she wants to be. It is when Nina sees her unravel as the film develops, that she begins to realise that perfection on the stage, does not reflect a perfect life behind it. That all the work and the effort that goes into being a perfect dancer, is not necessarily conclusive to a perfect life outside of performance. this culminates in the disturbing scene where Nina visits Beth in hospital, only for Beth to start stabbing herself in the face with a nail file. This image of the fallen idol haunt Nina in other vision, and results in the rapid declination of her own sanity.

Which only leaves us with Portman. Now I will try my best not to gush about her performance, but it truly is amazing. not only the physical challenge of being able to convincingly portrayed a conditioned and motivated ballet dancer, but bringing depth to a little girl lost in a seedy world of lust. Her outburst of anger against her mother are all the more shocking and emotive in contrast to her quiet and innocent other self. Her emotional transformation into the black swan, bluntly stated with a shocking physical transformation at two points of emotional peaks near the end of the film. And Portman handles some more uncomfortable scenes with sincerity and professionalism, those being the above mentioned masturbation, a surprisingly graphic lesbian scene, and a groping by Thomas. Nina's ability to react and adapt to these events show how she grows to rely on instinct and develop the darker side of herself, which is persistently looming throughout the film in a variety of clever mirror shots showing an alternate Nina glowering at her at varying points int he film.

Now after The Wrestler, I thought it would be difficult for Darren Aronofsky to follow with something else with such power. But i am happy to concede, that he has superceded himself with this film. It is a fast paced and highly emotional film about a young girl's development  and struggle in a world where she faces conflict between her want for perfection and morals. The denouement leaves with a sour taste of happiness for the accolade that Nina receives for her performance, but disappointment at the price she had to pay to earn it. If you haven't yet seen this film, I would put it to the top of your must watch list straight away, this is not to be missed.

Happy viewing...

By the Hammer of Thor!

I'm not going to lie to you. I was very sceptical when I went to watch Thor the other week. As much as I love comic book films, I do feel let down occasionally by the results (please read X-Men Origins: Wolverine). And the set up for Thor lead me to thinking this would be another in that classification of comic-book adaptations. Whether this had something to do with my lack of knowledge of the lightening god from the comic-book world, other than he spoke funny and like to swing about a hammer with an unpronounceable name, I am not sure. Or it may have to do with signing up Kenneth Branagh to direct, a man widely known for his Shakespearean adaptations rather than a source material from Marvel Studios. So suffice it to say, my expectations weren't exactly high on entering the cinema. But boy, did the feature itself change my mind!

The plot is classic Shakespeare, which explains how Branagh handles it so well. The power struggle, feuding heirs, and Machiavellian siblings, its all there, and it is all portrayed convincingly in a digitised world of deities that is Asgard. The plot plays the perfect backdrop to some astounding action sequences which really keep the pace of the film up. Think Macbeth, but with ice-giants and fire shooting suits of armour. Sounds good yeah? Well it is. It is very good.

And the key to keeping this film watchable, is the comparison of this fantasy world, with Thor's interactions with our world after being banished by his father. It is mainly these sections which provide the comic relief in the movie, and Chris Hemsworth manages to pull off the 'fish-out-of-water' routine very well. Watching this mountain of a man with a mane of golden hair march into a pet store and demand a horse, or a cat or dog big enough to ride, really hits the spot. while the supporting cast of mortal characters mainly serve to look on in astonishment at his behaviour, they play the perfect straight acts against this gos amongst men. Natalie Portman isn't exactly stretched by her role in this film, but is distractingly beautiful throughout, and tries to bring what depth she can to the character. As a side note, it should be know I am a massive fan of Portman, so I am likely to be unashamedly praising of almost anything she does. You have been warned.

To back up Thor and take up some of the more comic moments from him as the plot progresses, therefore allowing him to take on a more serious role as the film approaches it's denouement, are his quartet of fellow god warriors. They comprise of a variety of archetypal characters from history to show the diversity of this culture of heavenly soldiers. There is the rapier wielding cavalier (twirly moustache included), the axe bearing viking (complete with russet beard), the Xena huntress (breastplates as standard), and the stoic samurai (ethnic diversity, tick). These characters tend to steal the scenes they are involved in, as they are assigned some of the best tongue in cheek Shakespearean dialogue. Mt personal favourite being when the viking character is chastised for eating so much, offer the rebuke of "Do not mistake my appetite for apathy!". By holstering the lighter parts of the plot from Thor, they allow him to continue his journey to the climax of the film, and his face off with his brother, Loki.

Loki, in this film played by Tom Hiddleston, is a truly great villain, and Hiddleston does an absolutely stellar job of playing him. Treading the full character arc from seeming ally, to arch nemesis, Loki is a character you can easily hate, but still leaves you with a sense of sympathy for his predicament. The intensity in which he confronts his father about the legitimacy of his birth draws real tension from a character who has up until then held him self with a disarmingly calm demeanour. As the plot progresses, and we see that Loki is intent of the destruction of the race of ice-giants, we start to see his descent into madness at the discovery of his inception, massively parallelling some of the great characters of Shakespeare. This leaves him aptly treading the line between hard done by son of a god, and evil genius. Almost an anti-villain.

Whatever you thoughts on comic-book films, I would highly recommend trying to catch this while it is still in the cinemas. If it has gone already, I would urge you to eagerly await its DVD release. It is a welcome addition to the Marvel Studios collection, and paves the way well for the upcoming Avengers film. Especially if you knowingly wait until after the credits for the compulsory post film extra, which leaves with a massive teaser of what is come in Marvel Studios future.

Happy viewing...