Black Swan

Leave it to Darren Aronofsky to take a story about an insecure ballerina and turn it into a trippy hellish nightmare.  But then again, that's why we love Darren Aronofsky. 

In Black Swan, Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a ballet dancer about to make her debut in the lead role of the Swan Queen in a Lincoln Center production of Swan Lake.  Unfortunately this puts her in the awkward position of having to replace Beth (Winona Ryder), the former prima ballerina of the company who's basically been pushed out of the job due to her age and isn't happy about it, as well as having to fight off the inevitable advances of her director (Vincent Cassel).

Nina also suffers from a tremendous lack of confidence.  While she's a terrific dancer, talented enough to bring the grace and beauty required to play White Swan part of the role, she lacks the sensuality and devilishness needed to pull off the Black Swan role, much to the chagrin of her director and castmates.  Bring in Lily (Mila Kunis), the new dancer who befriends Nina but also seems ready to steal away her part in the show, and we've got a ballerina on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

This movie is all about Natalie Portman, who's in virtually every shot of this film, and she's incredible.  I'll be amazed if she doesn't win an Oscar for this (not shocked, of course...I still haven't forgotten what they did to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler).  Nina seems emotionally unstable from the start - from her insecurities as a dancer to dealing with her overprotective mother (Barbara Hershey), so her breakdown as the movie goes on, which we see entirely from her point of view, is downright terrifying.  It seemed to be channeling a combination of the "they're all going to laugh at you!" moments from Carrie and even a bit of Norma Desmond's walk down the staircase in Sunset Blvd by the time we reach the finale, and she was just amazing.  I can't say enough good things about her performance in this film.

The visuals are typical Aronfsky:  freaky as hell, but fabulous, with another brilliant Clint Mansell score.  Plus you also get parts of the Swan Lake score, which is a thing of beauty itself.  If you're a fan (which I am, The Fountain being a criminally underappreciated favorite), you won't be disappointed.  It's a fairly simple story, but the movie itself is a total descent into madness, and it absolutely shouldn't be missed.