BECCA WATERLDD ae@technewsiit.cum

W I Tuesdayjanuary 18, 2010

    
 

The good, the bad, and a movie: Black Swan

By Rebecca Waterloo
aue eolrou

You mayhav: h:ard th: hype aboutth: n:w eln:ma
hlt-l Black Swan Th: reaetlons hom vl:w:ls may hav:
call:d lt‘dlstulblng‘: mad: th:m f::l “un:asy‘:butd:n:
nlt:lyhas pot:ntlal to b: an Osaalwlnn:l

Naull: Portman dlv:s completely lnto h:l lol: as
a danm ln a plodueuon ofSwan Lake Many m:dla
artld:s hav: txplalned th: d:dleatlon to h:l tlalnlng.
:arly 5 a m mornlng workoua and a small dl:t, v:ry
slmllarto thos:who danc: as a aar::l

Th: story follows that ofth: Swan Lake ball:t, and
what palnstalongly hard work go:s lnto th: show Th:
ag: ls hard to t:ll olena, h:l skln as young and nalv:
as h:l p:lsonallty Th: N:w York Company Ballet dl:
l:etol (p oltlay:d by actor vlne:nt Cassd) announe:s
th:ll n:w productlon of th: Swan Lake, dumplng hls
“thu: Pllnmss” danm Beth (wlnona Ryder) for
young Nlna (Portman), cxpcctlng h:l to execute wlth
th: extreme d:dleatlon and s:duetlon through h:l
charact:ls th: Whlt: Swan (an enchanted woman ln
blrd form) and h:l :vll twln, th: Black Swan

Th: pressure bullds up on th: young danm and
thlngs salt to fall apart Although sh: bnngs th: n::
e:sslty ofp:lf:etlon on h:ls:lf, th: psychologlcal stress
scratches ath:l skln (or sh: do:s2) andh:rbody slowly
transforms lnto th: black swan, f:ath:ls and all Thls
film ls notfortheweakofstomach or shy ofmlnd Th: .
th:m:s ofnalv:t:, llf: as a ball:t danm (cracked to:s ,
and hng:rs down th: throat to r:gurgltat: food), and "
havlng a smoth:nng molh:l as prot:etlv: as the stuffed
anlmals arounlenas room are shown throughout the
film

Thos: wlth th: darker, slnful mlnd may b: pleased
at Mlla Kunls lol: as Llly, a rancld dane:r rim: to Free
vld: comp:tluon as w:ll as corrupt Portman, :nooun
aglng h:lto s:due: th: audl:ne: Multlple l:aetlons al:
aec:pt:d whll: watchlng thls. wh:th:l you’re laughlng
or shncklng, thls d:adly s:llous film touches many
subjects tulnlng them from goofy to t:lllfylng

Th: :ndlng ls a twlst, as expected, so catch Black
Swan whll: lts stlll ln th:at:ls. lt ls :v:rythlng lts llv:d
up to

 

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By Ryan Kamphllis
5w: warren

ln my mind, everything was coming together to cre
ate one of the best films ofthe year Start with a story that
takes somethlng as classlc as Tchalkovskys Swan Lake and
updates it to the current era Mix 111 Natalle Portman, an
actress who is a master at playing serlous roles with a natuc
rallsm that sets her above her peels And to top lt all off,
brlng ln Darren Aronofsky, dlrector of 2000s masterplece
Requiemfm a Dream, a dlrectorwho ls not afrald to try new
thlngs, create deeply dark drama, and eschew common cone
ventlon In order to create an amazing film
I was really exclted to see Black Swan It looked llke lt
was going to be one of those movles that you don’t forget
for a long time Because “1 addition to the strong merlts of
the film, crltlcs loved lt The movle had an 88% on Rotten
Tomatoes com Numerous crltlcs called forNatalle Portman
towln an Oscar for her role Some even sald that lt deserved
the best film award
i wanted to belleve But after seelng Black Swan, l Just
couldn’t It had lt’s potentlal, but lt all fell apart ln the end
The openlng half ofthe film lntroduces Nlna Sayers (Natac
lle Portman), a ballerlna for the Manhattan Ballet Company
who ls awarded the role as the Swan Queen ln the Company’s
upcomlng productlon of Tchalkovsky’s Swan Lake The dlr
rector of the company tells Nlna that she can expertly dance
the white Swan, a character that represents lnnocence and
l perfectlon,but thatshe can’t handle the Black Swan, a char
acter that represents lust, passlon, and rebelllon To make
matters worse for Nlna, a new ballerlna named Llly (Mlla
Kunls) joms the company who ls the perfect embodlment
of the Black Swan
But, as the film progresses, the excltlng groundworklald
ln the first half degenerates lnto a tale of sex, drugs, and
halluclnatlons, culmlnatlng ln a lesblanrsex scene that has
llttle relevance to the plot ofthe film In fact, someone who
walked lnto the theater halfway lnto the film would prob
ably have a hard tlme bellevlng what happened ln the first
half actually happened, they are that unrelated
The problem wlth Black Swan ls that lt trles to do too
much The movle would be fantastlc lf lt stuck to belng an
exploratlon of Nlna gettlng ln touch wlth her dark slde But lt trles to do that whlle belng an
erotlc thrlller, a psychologlcal drama, and at tlmes, a dark comedy The movie has an ldentlty
crlsls, and decldes to do a llttle blt ofeverythlng lnstead ofdolng one thlng well it makes for an
over the top film that lacks flow
ln mymlnd, the one good thlng about Black Swan ls Natalle Portman’s strong performance lts
ashlnlngbeacon ln an overall dlsappolntlng film Portman plays hercharacterwlth aserlousness,
gracefulness, and honesty that you rarelysee She does deserve an Oscar for her role, but lts the
only Oscar the film should recelve
Black Swan ls a real letdown Not Just because of the fact that lt wasn’t a very good movle, but
because we mlght get more films llke lt ltsounds hlpster, but Black Swan sells out lts artlstlc me
tegrlty by focuslng so heavlly on sex The movle could have done great thlngs, but lnstead lt sold
out ln the hopes ofgettlng a few more guys’ money ln the box office Here’s hoplng that more good
films don’t follow thls trend

BECCAWANTS TO KNOW

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