Incoherent Ramblings Regarding "Black Swan"

Because I cannot even begin to wrap my head around it enough to write any kind of formal review, I decided to do this instead. It's like, a review, minus all that stuff you learned in English class about development and paragraphs and stuff! Bahaha.

• After the movie ended, a very candid woman behind me loudly exclaimed: "What the HELL was that?!", which gave me a giggle. Speaking of giggle, during a scene that, at the time, I thought was particularly serious, a woman near the front of the packed theater began laughing hysterically. It was a little awkward though it did cause me to see the obvious humor that existed during that shot.
  
  
• I know I'm totally the first one in the whole world saying this, but, Natalie Portman basically knocks it out of the park. In fact, hers is probably my favorite female performance this year. I never once saw her acting - I simply saw Nina Sayers onscreen, and I was totally immersed. Her descent into madness is perfectly timed and brilliantly executed. And how about that scene where she was on the phone with her mom in the bathroom stall? Oh my goodness. That was just so...so perfect.
  
  
• The supporting cast is great too even though this is obviously about Nina, and nobody else. Mila Kunis (who was kind of awesome) is seductive and mysterious without being cliche, Hershey is scary and overbearing without being irritating, and Cassell is sultry and egotistical without being stupid.
  
• But my personal favorite in the supporting cast was Winona Ryder. She gets her own whole bullet point! As I was thinking about it today, I think her total screentime was probably about 5 minutes (if even that) and in that time she probably only says about 3 lines, but even so I left the movie with her character having left the greatest impression on me. As Beth, the past her prime dancer, she evokes so much in just the way that she carries herself, the way that she speaks, the looks in her eyes. She was just so captivating to behold.
  
  
• Um, technically, this movie is kind of perfect. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, and the score...ah, ah, ah the SCORE. Thank you Clint Mansell, for being freaking awesome once again. The way that the score seamlessly intertwines with Tchaikovsky and the way that it could stand alone as its own ballet music is just...so...wonderful. It heightens the emotion in every scene and is so perfectly orchestrated.
  
  
• I was effin' scared during this movie. Like, the most scared I've been in a LONG time at the movies. Maybe even ever. Though I haven't seen a lot of scary movies. But I was seriously clammy the whole time. I also felt kind of sick for the rest of the day after watching it - though that's probably the fault that all I ate all day was a bagel and a sandwich from Starbucks. Not the most stomach-friendly choice. Hehe.



• Personal Story: A couple hours after I saw this, I had one of the more rigorous piano lessons I've had in quite some time, and I just kept thinking about the movie, and how Thomas was like, intensely coaching Nina and how she was getting all stressed and I kind of related. Okay, I don't know if anyone can fully relate to this movie, but the theme of a relentless pursuit of success and how it can affect your persona really resonated with me.
  
  
• I loved it.
  
  

9/10

Some Invisible Ramblings on "Catfish"

Because I'm trying to support the hype, I'm writing the following in white! So only highlight it and read it if you've seen the movie or you don't really care about it being spoiled for you.

So here we go. This was a really engrossing movie, and it definitely lives up to the hype. Not knowing anything about it was truly part of the movie's success - watching the events unfold as they did was simply mesmerizing. Just when you think you know where the movie is going, it totally switches around on you and something completely new happens.

And perhaps the most stunning accomplishment of "Catfish" is its expansive emotional range. There are moments of genuine sadness, and moments that are simply hysterically funny. And when we finally meet Angela, and see the life she's living and the digital life that she's created for herself, we're confronted with so many gut reactions that we almost feel as though we ourselves spent 8 months in a relationship that probably did not really exist.

Of course, the film could have taken the easy way out and portrayed Angela as a freak, or a weirdo, but instead, even though her actions are seriously socially reprehensible, the film treats her with so much sympathy that we truly realize the kind of desperation that she feels and her actual motivation for doing what she did.

There's definitely the doubt as to whether or not it's real. But in my opinion, it would still be a great film either way. If it's real (which I do believe it is), then it's an extremely well-crafted, entertaining, thought provoking documentary that is truly timely. If it's fake, it's marvelously acted, intelligently written, and brilliantly marketed (and it still asks the important questions).

So maybe the film succeeds more on its story than its merits of filmmaking, but it was definitely worth all the hype and is the perfect documentary for our times. It's actually just mind-blowing and it'ss been stuck with me ever since I saw it.

Spoilers end!

8/10