Black Swan

If you’re thinking that Black Swan is about a bunch of women in tutus and toe shoes, get off your macho high horse and think again! Nina (Natalie Portman) is a dedicated ballet dancer who is given the role as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake and pushes herself to the nth degree to give a performance of perfection. The pressure is as tight as a tourniquet from the direction of her chauvinistic stage director (Vincent Cassel), aspirations and overarching support by her mother (Barbara Hershey) and the flawless talent from the new belle of the Manhattan Ballet Company, Lily (Mila Kunis). Jealousy turns into paranoia when Nina begins losing herself in the role that would make Stanislavski and Nijinsky’s heads spin.

Natalie Portman gives one of the best performances of her career as the overambitious Nina Sayers. She may be under thirty, but she’s worked with everyone from Michael Mann to Mike Nichols. Portman, who did ballet as a child, didn’t forget her positions since she practiced five hours a day during the principal photography of the film. Director Darren Aronofsky knows how to push his actors to the limits and Portman’s performance borders between the ambitious Moira Shearer from The Red Shoes and the psychologically spent Emily Watson from Breaking the Waves.

Barbara Hershey gives one of her most memorable performances in years. After Beaches and Falling Down, it seemed like she fell off the big screen. However, her role as Nina’s overprotective mother is as inevitable and domineering as Piper Laurie’s performance in Carrie. As for Mila Kunis, she has stepped up from the small screen (That 70s Show, Family Guy) and gives a remarkable performance as the seductive and vindictive Lily. The on-screen time between her and Portman is intense and powerful. One performance that dares not to be overlooked is Winona Ryder’s role as a ballet dancer about to retire, as she becomes a role model for Nina and a living nightmare. Ryder gives one her best performances since The Age of Innocence.

The plot may seem simplistic, but Darren Aronofsky is known to take simplistic stories and turn them into modern masterpieces. If you don’t believe me, watch Requiem for a Dream and tell me that it’s not just about people hooked on heroin, or that The Wrestler is not just about some old guy in the ring. Black Swan is an intense and wild trip that makes you wonder if anybody slipped something into your popcorn. In the end, it is the film that leaves you shouting “Encore!” that you mistake your local movie theatre as the Metropolitan Opera House. I was almost considering The Social Network as one of the year’s best films, but I was knocked off my feet and struggling for balance from Black Swan as I consider it one of the most surprising and best films of 2010.

4 out of 4 Stars: ****

Somewhere

At first glance, one might assume that Somewhere is Lost in Translation set in Los Angeles. The short answer is "yes", but the long answer is "no." Set at the legendary Château Marmont Hotel, Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is an A-list actor who lives the dream life; partying every night, having strippers on speed dial, and more time in the bedroom than Warren Beatty. His wild life is put on hold when he wakes up and sees his 11-year-old daughter, Cleo (Elle Fanning) and looks after her before she leaves for summer camp. When they're not lounging by the hotel pool, Johnny and Cleo are either playing video games, flying off to Italy, or at the craps tables in Las Vegas. The vague and unanswered questions about Johnny's past and his wife, who we only hear on the other end of the telephone, are insignificant as Coppola focuses on these two people living in the moment as a father and a daughter.

While watching Somewhere, I felt like Johnny in the first fifteen minutes of the film; sitting on my bed and seeming uninterested, except that I didn't have two strippers in my room. Is there something in Somewhere? Yes, there is. What Sofia Coppola succeeds in is bringing the style and mood of the European filmmakers of the Sixties, like Godard and Antonioni, to modern day L.A., where excess and celebrity rule over art and dignity. The last ten minutes of the film are reminiscent of Antonioni's Zabriskie's Point, mixed together with Roeg's Walkabout, minus the exploding buildings and Pink Floyd soundtrack.

Cynics may think of Somewhere as Lost in Translation set in the West Coast, as opposed to Tokyo. However, unlike Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson playing the roles of two strangers who meet on the other side of the world, Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning wrestle with the transitions of maturity. Johnny attempts at finding comfort away from the excesses that cost him his marriage while Cleo stands out as not being treated like a Hollywood princess by being independent, yet yearning for the stability and love between her parents. Somewhere avoids coming across as an episode of Entourage by focusing on the dark side of fame; it's not drugs or alcohol, but loneliness.

Rating: *** 3 out of 4 Stars