A post about...ballet.

I mean not really.  I went to see Black Swan tonight, staring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.  It's a psychological thriller about ballet.  Going in I didn't know what to expect, since I know nothing about ballet besides it being a dance form and having seen The Nutcracker a hundred times through high school (thanks dancer friends and cultural grants).  But I heard this movie is going to win stuff when the awards season rolls around, and it's been getting pretty good reviews.  Some friends wanted to go, so hell - MOVIE NIGHT.

I'll let someone with much more of an eye for critiquing movies break it down for those wanting more, but I will say this: it's a good flick.  I was as equally disturbed and creeped out by it as I was loving it.  It's beautifully shot, and the story can be read at so many levels.  Portman does an incredible job (I forgot she was the Queen of Naboo the entire time I was watching this, which puts her in DiCaprio/Inception status), and has you questioning the boundary of Nina's (Portman) reality the entire time.  At one point, my friend turned to me in the theater and said "I think she's going to turn into a swan."  You can't tell if Black Swan is about to go del Toro on you like Pan's Labyrinth, or Silence of the Lambs, or what.  But it engaged me the entire time I was sitting there, for better or worse.

And there is some worse, but it's necessary to the story.  I haven't squirmed in my seat that much since watching people get their legs sawed off and breast cancer removed with a knife in John Adams.  But it's so necessary to take you down this rabbit hole with Nina, the story would lose its edge without it.

So I'm recommending Black Swan, was very much a sleeper surprise for me.  And if you can stomach it, you'll see some of the best story telling, acting, music, and cinematography this year.