This is one of those kooky movies. Every few years it doesn’t hurt to see one, like “Psycho” or “Fatal Attraction” or whatnot. “Black Swan” is a little like those, but I thought it over the top in parts in what it was going for. Didn’t it seem to get a bit ridiculous? The audience laughed in a couple spooky parts that weren’t necessarily meant for laughter.
Despite that, I did like bits of “Black Swan,” which is the story of a veteran ballerina in a New York City company who wins the lead in “Swan Lake” but appears headed for a breakdown from the pressure as well as contending with a smothering psychotic mother (played by Barbara Hershey) and a rival ballerina (Mila Kunis).
The film does a good job at capturing the strenuous demands and artistry that goes into such a top venue dance performance. Nina, the lead ballerina (played by Natalie Portman), practices endlessly through pain and injuries to get the moves just right. She aims for perfection in a profession that insists on it, but along the way things start to become unglued.
Portman’s hard work and dance training for the role will likely earn her an Academy Award nomination, as well as the total angst she exudes as the character. Vincent Cassel does a great job as well as the demanding ballet director who pushes Nina to capture both sides of the role as the white and black swan.
It’s an intriguing vantage point for a movie. But the director seems to go a step further than necessary, making it more over the top than perhaps what would have made it more intriguing.
