Black Swan

I think I picked the perfect time to go and see Darren Aronofsky Black Swan at my local multiplex, 9am on a Sunday morning. Apparently, like 'The Kings Speech' it usually sold out, but I was the only one in the cinema when I went to the movies. To be honest, that's my idea of heaven, no other people around to chat, munch, text or kick and spoil my enjoyment of the film. And it started on time, was projected in the right ratio and sounded good. It seems I'm going to have to make more of an effort to get up early at the weekends.

I'd been looking forward to seeing this film immensely, loving the very graphic posters that appeared in my nearest independent cinema a while back and having something of a school girl crush on Vincent Cassel. A film about a ballarina struggling with her psyche to find the evil with in needed to play the dual roles of the black and white swan in Swan Lake - sounds delicious, like 'Ballet Shoes' for big girls and a slight thriller/horror element for anyone not terpsichorean inclined.

For the first hour or so of the film I was wondering what all the fuss was about, the two young female leads had obviously put in a huge amount of work to protraying ballet dancer correctly. I don't just mean they looked bird thin and wore there hair in buns, they had put in the practice and moved convincingly during the dance routines. But I found Natalie Portmans Nina just annoying, her constant fear and high strung nature was depressing me, and I'm a fan of Almodóvar and melodrama, so I wondered what everyone else was seeing in it. Then almost like switch being turned on the subtle nuances of the how Nina's story was intertwined with Swan Lake became apparent. For me it came when I was able to slot Barbara Hershey character in to cast of Swan Lake, I think it took me longer than most folks, and from that moment on I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it would all play out or if there would be a brilliant twist ending.

All in all I say I enjoyed the film - but it left we with lots of questions, not so much about the characters, the actors where brilliant, and I'm quite happy with what some friends have seen as unexplained/unresolved points of the story. To me it is a self contained piece and I don't see the point in wondering what next or how did they, I mean sometimes that happens, in life you never get to know all the answers. Mine are more movie geeky about lighting and cameras - how sad am I!

I mean just take a look at this spoil-tastic VFX reel