Classic Movie Review: Black Swan (2010)

Artistic and unsettling, Black Swan is a prime example of Darren Aronofsky's ability to create an uncomfortable and distressing film experience that audiences simply can't turn away from. Through a twisted and dark artistic lens, this movie asks one important question: how far will someone go for perfection? Through an overemphasized and dark view of the world of ballet, we receive a twisted and psychological flick that leaves us questioning our own emotional and mental states.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is an aspiring and dedicated ballerina whose entire life is ruled by her pursuits in the art form. When her company begins production on Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, Nina becomes the front-runner for the role of the White Swan, however her lacking range restricts her from playing the contrasting Black Swan. Competition begins as Lily (Mila Kunis) assumes this opposite role, and we begin to glimpse into Nina's dark emotional distress and mental illness as she vies for perfection in her performance.

An obvious starting point in an analysis of Black Swan is its artistic style. This film is Aronofsky at his best; assuming his token surreal and disturbing style in creating a truly beautiful and dark flick. The style of the film can be seen as a reflection of Nina's psychological distress, and as she spirals further downwards in her mental state, the artistic form of the film follows suit. As the movie progresses it becomes increasingly surreal and figurative as we glimpse deeper into Nina's emotional schizophrenia and anxiety. Basically, expect to come out of this movie questioning whether anything actually happened or not. But not in a clichéd kind of way.

Just as beautiful as the film's style is the acting in the movie, and not without recognition. Natalie Portman's incredible portrayal of the twisted and tormented Nina snagged her the Academy Award for Best Actress, with Mila Kunis also receiving praise for her performance as Nina's twisted counterpart Lily. Natalie Portman's ability to convey such a wide range of emotions in this movie, from love and lust to schizophrenia, ultimately creates an incredibly dynamic and diverse character out of Nina.

Much like Aronofsky's other movies (Requiem for a Dream, Pi), Black Swan is disturbing and uncomfortable, but ultimately impossible to stop watching. We as the audience get to see the dark embodiments of Nina's struggling mental, emotional and sexual states, and respectively feel almost as messed up as Nina by the end of the movie. Grim and beautiful, Black Swan is definitely not just a boring film about ballet. As Nina states at the climax of the movie, "I was perfect". And the film was too.

Jupiter Ascending

Imagine if you will a crossover between Star Wars and Game of Thrones. Congratulations, you have just thought of a much more intriguing and exciting movie than Jupiter Ascending. The Wachowskis have attempted to craft an engaging sci-fi story and, while I must admit the world the movie inhabits is interesting, they lack the writing ability to make a story that is engaging or one that makes any sense.

Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is an illegal Russian immigrant who lives in Chicago working for her uncle in his cleaning business. In an attempt to make some money by selling her eggs, she is almost killed by aliens (the most stereotypic aliens you can think of), but is saved by Caine Wise (Channing Tatum), a human-dog hybrid, who reveals to Jupiter that Earth was genetically seeded by a family run corporation billions of years ago. Jupiter finds out that she is actually space royalty (the highest royalty one can hope for) and is thrust into the politics of the Abrasax family, which includes Balem (Eddie Redmayne), Kalique (Tuppence Middleton) and Titus (Douglas Booth), all of whom are fighting over the ownership of Earth.

This movie's plot is all over the place and that has to do with the amount of detail which is just brushed over. We have no idea about where the space people came from (they do identify as human) or how their civilisation works. It is mentioned that the Abrasax family is one of many that inhabit the universe, but we never get a glimpse at any of these. On the upside we do get an extended montage of "space bureaucracy" that is trying so hard to remind us of Terry Gilliam's Brazil. In the hands of a much better writer, this world would be an amazing setting for a series of sci-fi novels that would be able to go into the deep detail needed for all this plot.

There is also a glaring problem with Jupiter's backstory. In the prologue, we are told that Jupiter's father was the son of the British Ambassador to Russia and her mother and father live in quite a nice apartment. But in the scene that comes after her father's death, her mother is on a container ship, being smuggled into America. So many things wrong here. Why wouldn't the father-in-law take them in? Being an ambassador is quite a revered diplomatic position and he couldn't have ensured their safe passage anywhere in the world. Even if he disowned them, Jupiter's mother had enough money to be able to get to America. Sure the prologue takes place in Soviet Russia, but the way they were living exceeded the middle class of Russia at the time.

As for the acting of this film, I don't really know what to say. All the actors do an adequate job of portraying their one-dimensional characters. Jupiter had the potential to be a strong female protagonist, but just ends up being another damsel to be saved by Channing Tatum. Now his character is just as boring. We know nothing of the science behind the character, although they mention gene-splicing more times that I care to count. And Sean Bean. Don't even get me started on him. We all know he is good for one thing and one thing only; dying. And yet they don't let him live up to his potential. What a waste.

There is hope, however. Very recent Academy Award Winner Eddie Redmayne has made some incredible, if not strange, acting choices in his career. But none have been as genius as the choices made in this film. He looked at the poorly written Balem Abrasax and his minimal screen time and wondered how could he work his magic. Well, magic is the right word for it. In each scene, he mumbles through his lines, making you lean in to grasp the nuances of his delivery of each line, before shouting at all of us the crux of each scene, which nine out of ten times is "Bring her to me!" or a variant thereof.

I really wish this was a series of books because I would enjoyed it. Too late now. The only thing saving this from a zero score is Redmayne's strange, weird performance. The only character I want to see ever again is the elephant man Nesh. If you've seen it, you'll agree with me.

Oz: The Great and Powerful

Since Judy Garland first explored the land of Oz in 1939, there have been many sequels and various different interpretations of the original. Sometimes ranging from the straightforward (Return to Oz, it is very dark though) to the wacky (Zardoz, Tin Man, The Wiz, the list is endless). Most of these films and  stage performances take place after the events of the original film, in which Dorothy or some other young girl is swept off to the land of Oz.

But Sam Raimi (of Spiderman and Evil Dead fame) has created a story which I have always wondered about. It is that of the titular wizard. Oscar Diggs (James Franco), or Oz, as is his stage name, is working for a traveling circus in Kansas with his assistant Frank (Zach Braff). One stormy afternoon after a show, Oz is confronted by the circus' strongman and escapes via a hot air balloon. However, this balloon proceeds straight into a tornado that transports him to the land of Oz (like there's any other way to get there).

Once there he meets Theodora (Mila Kunis), a witch who lives in the Emerald City with her sister, Evanora (Rachel Weisz). They inform him of the prophecy laid down by the previous ruler, that a wizard would come to claim the throne and defeat the Wicked Witch. Evanora convinces Oz to go and defeat the Wicked Witch and also tells Theodora that Oz has left her for Glinda (Michelle Williams), who we find out is the Good Witch. 

Once Oz discovers that Glinda is a good witch, whose father was murdered by Evanora, she convinces him to help defeat the real threat to the land. Meanwhile, Evanora has given Theodora an enchanted apple that will take away the pain of Oz leaving her. This also transforms her into the Wicked Witch of the West that we all know and love.

Oz must create an army that he will lead to the Emerald City. He does this with the help of his friends Finley (Zach Braff again), a not so scary flying monkey, and China Girl (Joey King), whose story arc is amazingly touching. He also has help from the people of Oz, namely farmers, tinkers and everyone's favourite Munchkins (who are only permitted half a song). They all then march on the Emerald City for the final confrontation with the evil sisters.

It is worth mentioning that the first 15-20 minutes of the film is black and white and is not widescreen. This is a great callback to the original film and, like that one, once the land of Oz is reached, colour and widescreen are restored. There are a number of other references to the original film, such as a cowardly lion and many scarecrows. I was waiting for the trifecta of a Tin Man, but alas there was none.

Also, like in the original film, many of the character's introduced to us in Oz have counterparts in Kansas. Finley is Oz's assistant Frank and China Girl is a wheelchair bound girl who comes to watch Oz's magic show.

One terrifying aspect of this film is the monkeys, as no trip to Oz is complete without them. If you were scared by the flying monkeys of the original, or even the nightmare inducing wheelers from Return to Oz (really horrifying stuff), there is no respite in this movie. Here, they are baboons with giant bat wings and are just plain terrifying.

Verdict: A proper return to Oz, with all the elements of the original film (minus the singing).

This post originally appeared on Mosca Media.