The Revelator

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is by far one of the best movies of the year. It is a beautiful and chilling character study of a woman’s struggle to achieve perfection. A recurring theme in Aronofsky’s films is obsession, and Black Swan is no different. Natalie Portman plays a ballet dancer, competing for the lead role of her company’s rendition of Black Swan.

Both through Aronofsky’s vision and Portman’s brilliant performance, I was in awe of the events unfolding in front of my eyes. There are constant close ups of Portman’s face. Even during the dance sequences the camera is always close enough to see everyone of her expressions, making the movie a personal experience. I say experience because once Portman’s character starts spiraling out of control, I was in for the ride.

As I am writing this I am realizing that I am in no way capable of writing a review that would truly give this movie justice. All I can say is that Natalie Portman accessed something deep and dark inside of her to give such a brilliant performance, and Aronofsky has never translated such physiological struggle so well to the screen before.

After watching Black Swan, I believe that Aronofsky can make a two and a half hour movie about a can of Campbell’s Soup and it would be a beautiful piece of art that would either make me cry or drive me crazy. I say this because he is that good!