WHILE I AM NOT DISCUSSING PLOT, SOME PEOPLE MAY THINK THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS POST. (I'M LOOKING AT YOU, LOST FANS.) I THINK IF YOU CARE THAT MUCH ABOUT NON-SPOILER SPOILERS, YOU SHOULDN'T BE IN THIS THREAD TO BEGIN WITH, KTHNX.
Fair warning aside...
I thought I would never forgive Aronofsky for the pathetic display that caused douchers the world around to quiver in their pants and choke out idiocy like "Aronofsky has a vision, maaaaaaaan." I speak, of course, of
Requiem for a Dream. But I really liked
The Wrestler, so I decided I'd see
Black Swan. And it was... In simplest terms, it was worth it.
The negative first: Black Swan was clearly ham-fisted. Every-friggin-where. From the OMFG!SYMBOLISM to the obnoxioiusly overused "I'm walking down the street and holy ****, lookit that cinéma vérité, *****es!" nonsense to the noise of the subway sounding like wing-beats... It was just clumsy. I actually did something I NEVER do, and spoke (well, whispered) while in the movie theater. I leaned over to my brother and said, "Hey, so, do you think obsession ever becomes madness?!?! After having it pointed out seven thousand times, I still can't be sure." (In related news, I'm an *******.)
And I completely agree with some people's reviews that it had really strong elements of Aronofsky doing what he does best which is, let's face it, gathering a crowd so he can measure his movie-making-dick in public. <-- I'm paraphrasing a weensy bit.
BUT. I'm quite glad I saw it. Special effects were very nicely used. The sensory discomfort was
very effectively done and I was cringing and curling my toes and I swear I spent half the ride home checking for hangnails. And you know what? I'm really happy movies like this can get made, made fairly well, and can be brought to a large audience successfully. We need a lot more Black Swans and a lot fewer Marmadukes, yanno?
Though it's about
Inception, a blogger wrote this, and I think it applies to
Black Swan as well:
Quote:
Inception opened over the weekend, and while that was the movie event of the summer for dorks like you and me who can use the internet and visit Wal Mart without aid of a Rascal scooter, there was some question as to whether such an expensive “art” movie would play to the real America. It was kind of an important issue, because regardless of whether you liked it or not, Inception failing to earn out could jeopardize the chances of a studio ever giving a director the creative freedom to make an expensive, non-comic book, non-sequel, non-franchise, non-board game, non-remake, non-Will Smith’s-son film like this ever again — even to a big swinging wiener like Chris Nolan.
Aronofsky went for it. He didn't sear my soul, but it was a solid effort. And the fact that so many people liked it gives me hope.
Glad it was made. Glad I saw it.