Black Swan

Yes, I finally jumped on the bandwagon.  Took me way longer than most people, but I finally saw "Black Swan".  Natalie Portman was completely perfect for the role, having an air of self-doubt about her anyways, the character she played completely came to life.  The other characters were brilliantly cast as well, although Winona Ryder's role was all that important, to be honest.  However, Mila Kunis was phenomenal, and I haven't really seen her in much other than "That 70's Show," which I feel is a great show with annoying acting.  

Part of why it took me so long to see this movie is because I am a huge scaredy-cat.  I have an imagination that just runs wild when it's given even less than an inch, so I knowingly stay away from most horror or seemingly creepy films.  I wanted to be sure I could watch it from the comfort of my home in case I needed to pause it for a moment.  However, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined or even heard.  The "scary" part was more that the director never let you catch your breath and re-center your stress.  I felt just as stressed out for Natalie from the beginning of the movie until the end.  Yes, there was one really creepy scene, but that was about it.  It was really just stressful.


At one point in the movie, though, after you'd been introduced to both the mother and the director, I was asked the question, "Who do you think is worse? The mom or the director?"  If you haven't seen the movie then you probably don't know what I mean when I say that I think the mother is worse.  You expect the director to be a little pretentious and expectant in what he thinks he can get away with, but the mom's incessant need to keep control over her daughter and guilt trip her into everything and treat her like she's twelve is supremely disturbing.  I would almost say it is the cause of some of the most stressful scenes in the movie.  


In all, though, I almost half expected the ending, which was unfortunate.  I realized early on that a lot of the exaggerated scenes were simply illusions stemming from a disturbance inside Natalie, so the ending did not fully surprise me.  It did, however, make my heart go out to Natalie's character because I genuinely felt bad for her.  So, if you haven't seen the movie, please do so, but make sure you're ready to handle the stress from it have have a quiet space you can go to afterwards to digest it all or talk it over with someone, because it will definitely make your wheels spin.  


Now, if I could just get away with wearing some of that show makeup...