Black Swan: Review By Bane. Ferguson

The Black Swan is a dark, brutal, sensual, forceful, very well driven noir psychological thriller that will make you quiver with either fear or sensual delight.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a nervy, very skinny Ballerina, working with the top form dancers of New York City. An uncomfortable, self loathing, self harming, and frigid virginal angel, blissful, innocent, captivating, and good at her trade, practicing until her ligaments are torn or she's in utter pure uncontrollable pain. Belting herself whether she's done something mildly wrong, always with her rueful and failed ex-dancer mother, who is obsessive about her and her triumph in life as a dancer on her back, assessing, and painting very dark illustrative paintings of her? Hmmmmm!!! Adoring her, smothering her. Nina is attractive and resourceful and one of the better dancers, trying out for the big adaptation of Swan Lake, with her smooth silk laced movements, her fragility standing out, her controversial beauty, but that's just the problem!!! Her dance choreographer and director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) not bemused, finding she needs to awaken her inner beast, contorted, raging, the sexual fire she needs to perform the other side of the Swan, The Black Swan, the malicious, free, driven, sexual goddess, grasping any man's heart whether it comes to her or not.

Through the film we meet Lily (Mila Kunis-the real Black Swan of the movie) who is floundering about, lush, driven and very very much a beautiful human being. This film is a very engrossing and distorted, dark, lackluster noir, that brings forward the horror, and pelts it out, through the emotion that is escaping from Natalie's Performance and Darren Aronoskys direction and Clint Mansells delicious take on the original Swan Lake music twinning it to his ways. Through the procession we see Nina get uncomforted with herself, as this films basis is self preservation, Ego, looks, the broadening look on how much you would want to change, about sexual desire, about being the best at what you want to be good at.

This is what the film is good at, grasping the audience, giving the audience a real deep look at this painful skill, making the audience i was in and probably many cringe, with the cracking and very deliberate pain they must pursue to captivate audiences. During this films dramatic and enticing and totally out of it climax @TheStonedReviewer turned to me and said "So What Do You Think?" and all i did was look at him then back at the screen at the end credits, just wanting to get up and applaud (which our pure British audience didn't tut tut) but I was in shock. Transfixed by this film, by its look, by its actors commitment and dedication to Natalie's performance, to this great challenge and captivating feature film. I sat there, looking back at his expectant face, pointed, then after a while, while I put my hand down I said "I might as well never see a movie again!" My dear friend was quite shocked and out of it I said" compared to this no need" but I know that is drastic but that's how shocking, entrancing, mind blowing, alluring this film was.

Let's just say Nina's character goes through a stage where she sees herself as many people, sees a douffleganger version of her, she sees Lily as her, passersby and her alter egos stance in the mirror. It shows her progression into a dangerous place, situated within her mind, where we see a sexual unrelenting dark side, the scene between Lily and her experiencing her first ever sexual connection and orgasm is scary, unrelentingly creepy, putting the audience on edge, suggesting many things about her characters frame of mind. Whether we are viewing it through her eyes or some other way, the directors concealing it as a fantasy film, not a psychological noir horror (I'd like to call it).

What is effective is the brutality of the direction capturing what many people don't see in dance is the physical and mentality of it, of the power and strength it needs, about the cataclysm of the mind, how to persevere. The horror and jumps aren't cheap, whether it's through her obsession of self harming, or to the jumping and frenetic cuts showing two sides of the scene, whether it's her actual mind shower her these things, everything is laid out and played out beautifully, and everything, due to its look is gorgeous.

Darren, (Requiem for A Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler) over shadows many themes, and heightens it by Nina's eyes, diverting our attention, whether it's through stance of the actors and actresses whether to the tension and direction, the films key is tone to begin with. How to bring forward this frenzied feature no one was interested in, how to compel Portman with a record of bailing out on films due to sexual scenes, how to enliven it, how reassure her that it's for the story not just the audiences pleasure? How to make it a fresh and unique film, and probably the best film he will ever create? With his fascination with brutality and wonderment and the physicality of dance and how to bring forth a story of pure utter delicate psychotic brilliance to the screen, so the key tone must be set from beginning to end, ravel the audience in. The look and script and one of the most bravest and strongest actress to come out of Hollywood make this film what it is, with its dark look, its brutal delicate shots of Portman's character suffering, to the psyched up and sweaty club to the final scene where the audience will be challenged mentally and emotionally, it looks fresh and new.

Natalie performs with utter diligence and patients and brings this low budgeted movie up on form to over cast a long dark shadow over big budgeted movies and boats its brilliance of story, and captivation and heart storming characters and its Director to thrill scare, and make the audience care so much for this poor enthralled scared and scarred main lead. Bringing forth a tone of realism to it that would never have worked with someone else, showing us that Mila Kunis is the one to hold back and to backup the other actors and to liven up the film with her charm and her realistic performance as the symbol of the film, along with Winona Ryder as the Amped up jealous retiree ballerina, who has a very scary and brilliant scene between her and Natalie in the hospital that will grip your heart with a shockingly hard grip.

With fresh rich music by Clint Mansell (Moon) and a script to divine punctual and articulate form by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin Darren Aronosky and everyone else who give the word Masterpiece a reason to exist.

A masterpiece that dribbles with delicate shots, delicate performances, a beautiful film that engrosses, thrills and stands out as a winner. Best Film Ever Created.