As you can probably guess from the title (aaaand the picture), I've finally gotten the chance to go watch Black Swan. I'm probably not going to do a very lengthy review as I'm wont to (like I said, college does wonders to one's writing skills and drive...), but let me tell you this:
IT. WAS. AWESOME.
Not just visually too (the ballet costumes were simply gorgeous). The performances from everyone onboard, from the astounding Natalie Portman to Winona Ryder were rock solid. But special mention definitely goes out to Natalie Portman, who absolutely dominates from the first minute to the last. She plays Nina Sayers, an uptight ballerina obsessed with perfection and trapped in a cocoon of her own expectations and pressure. The Nina Sayers at the beginning of the film is frightened and fragile, as succinctly described by Vincent Cassel's character, Thomas Leroy. To embody the Black Swan, she has to break out her dark side, and that is really, I think, the message that the movie is trying to get across.
Everyone has a good and bad side; light and dark; ying and yang. In order to make peace with ourselves, we have to get in touch with that dark side and know when to yield and when to resist. The true demons that are holding us back from reaching our true potential are not from outside but from within. Raised by an overbearing but well-meaning mother, Nina Sayers is too paranoid and too busy with trying to be perfect to recognise this, so when she is finally forced to do so in order to properly play the Black Swan - she ultimately ends up treading the path of her own destruction.
It's more than just lesbian sex and ballet. So do yourself a favour and watch this.
