Black Swan

[sixpackshaker]

Damn, Norris

You should have spoiler marked the the review you posted.

I can never stand reviewers that give so damned much of a story away with their reviews.

 

[Norris]

Fair cop to a degree. The problem is that this movie is incredibly difficult to describe without ruining it. But I'll try.

The story itself is about ballerinas, but only in a superficial sense. Its more about how a person can be flawed in their perfection, and perfect in their flaws. Its a story told with both subtlety and force, and this is seen both in the acting as well as in the script itself. There are no characters that are entirely predictable, they all have many layers.

At the same time, the film has a level of intensity that is hard to stomach. The sights and sounds hammer down into you at a very deep level that is very hard to identify. It reminds me of Japanese Horror films in a way.

You'll notice that I'm not talking about the plot, and that's because the plot itself isn't complicated and arguably isn't that important to the quality of the film. In a way its a bit of a Taoist attempt. The story is pure in its simplicity which allows more effort to be put into the depth of the characters and the manipulation of the audience through sense.

This entire description sounds incredibly douchey. Just see the damn movie.

Thank you. That says more to me, and does more to make it sound good, than any of the "just go see it" recommendations or the basic synopsis I found. That sounds like a film that has a point beyond depressing the audience (I would argue that for example, Precious doesn't due certain elements of its ending). The trailers and especially the plot synopsis really don't communicate that it is a more darkly psychological ride. Thank you. I may be able to make some time for before the holidays are over.

Sixpackshaker: I apologize, but I do point out that this is a movie talkback thread. Since spoilers aren't mentioned in the thread title, I should have hid them. Additionally, that's just the bare bones plot summary from Wikipedia.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Norris, no one's forcing you to see the ballerina movie. But consider that you're bitching about movie you haven't seen and know nothing about. You're ranting about subjects, and then admitting you're unfamiliar with them, or haven't gotten around to it yet (for example, comparing what went on behind the scenes with the original Star Wars vs what happened behind the scenes of the prequels as an argument for Lucas as a good director shows complete ignorance behind the facts of the series).

 

[Norris]

Norris, no one's forcing you to see the ballerina movie. But consider that you're bitching about movie you haven't seen and know nothing about. You're ranting about subjects, and then admitting you're unfamiliar with them, or haven't gotten around to it yet (for example, comparing what went on behind the scenes with the original Star Wars vs what happened behind the scenes of the prequels as an argument for Lucas as a good director shows complete ignorance behind the facts of the series).

I'm not bitching, I'm asking. The trailers make it look an incredibly boring piece about ballet with what I have seen to be middle of the road talent. Here I find people saying it is one of the best movies of year and a must see. I am trying to reconcile these two disparate views and figure out if the ad campaign is shitty or if people on this board just fucking love self harming ballerinas. It would appear to the former. My original post was intended as somewhat tongue in cheek, then I had to defend the genre of science fiction/fantasy (AKA "nerd shit") and explain in more detail WHY I feel the flick didn't look that good. Low and behold, when someone explains it is not exactly what the commercials paint it as, I change my tune. Fancy that.

And while I know that Lucas had far fewer people editing his work every step of the way on the later trilogy, that does not negate the fact that he directed not one but two movies on the AFI Top 100, both of which he also wrote. Not only that, but they were his second and third features. So while he may have had less oversight, I find it incredibly hard to believe that he is the only or even the main reason his actors were so wooden in the prequels. The original cast did far more with far less.

 

[Norris]

Sorry for the double post but I just returned home from seeing the movie. The acting was great, the cinematography was great, the story was great, but Jeely Cly it was a hard to watch film. Like outright painful at times. Not due to lack of quality, but instead because of the quality of the visuals and acting. I would not exactly recommend this film, nor would I recommend against it. It is a fine film but I do not personally find films that are uncomfortable to entertaining.

So....if your choice is between this and True Grit, see True Grit. If you can see both, you probably should.

 

[MindDetective]

I say it is worth seeing. Once.

 

[Gusto]

Yeah I enjoyed the hell out of the movie but I would not watch it again in theatres.