Black Swan: Part 2

 In December 2010, the movie Black Swan was released to theatres. The story is based off the ballet, Swan Lake, and is about a young ballerina named Nina Sayers who gets the part of the Swan Queen. Only problem is that Nina is mentally unstable and the press for perfection pushes her over the edge.

This movie has been getting A LOT of hype. There have been many Oscar buzzes flying about for this movie, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a fresh review, and imdb.com has a very high rating currently for this movie, quite uncommon for a horror movie. The last horror that got this much hype was Paranormal Activity.

Unfortunately, like Paranormal Activity, this movie is just not scary. At all. If anything, it's just another gory, sexy comedy adventure. I was led astray when critics were calling it the next Red Shoes and a psychological horror because I got neither.

Granted, it wasn't a bad movie. I didn't fall asleep during it like Paranormal Activity. This movie is also quite original. I mean, how many ballet horror movies can you name? Yeah, I couldn't think of any either.

I don't know. I just didn't get the hype. Natalie Portman wasn't the best actress in my opinion either. I liked Mila Kunis who played Nina's (Natalie Portman) understudy, but I didn't get a WOW performance from Natalie. Then again, I never agree with what the Oscar picks so maybe it's perfect.

I did like how Tchaikovsky music was dispersed throughout the movie. Even the music in the restaurant was an elevator-ized version of one of the pieces. I was really hoping that the club scene would have Swan Lake techno music, but I was disappointed. I don't know, maybe it was Swan Lake played backward or something.

It's just not a scary movie. It's a nice movie. It's a funny movie. But it's not scary. They sort of forced symbolism on us with all the white/black/mirror image/hair-up/hair-down/yadda yadda that even someone who doesn't know crap about movies like me noticed. But it was a nice movie. I only paid five dollars for it so I can't complain.

I play Silent Hill and am a huge fan of that series. That basically translates to "I love symbolism!" and "I love psychological horror!" But this movie just made me laugh my head off. Because...it's funny. It really is. I would give you examples but I don't want to ruin it for you. My guess is people are going to see this and either see a very funny comedy or a terrifying horror movie. 

Since this is a ballet blog, I probably should comment on the dance portion. Though it was painfully obvious at times that Natalie wasn't doing her own dancing. At least they didn't force her to dance. They threw in a double and it looked fine. The ballet-filled sections were the best portion of film because it made the film take you into a world you may never experience for yourself. I really enjoyed these bits. In fact, I'd say I enjoyed these bits the most. Thankfully a good portion of the movie takes place in the theatre or during practice.

They also knew quite a bit about Swan Lake. Natalie would do the mimes that Odile performs and they would refer to certain portions of the ballet correctly. Though I do have to ask (and this is a spoiler. Highlight to expose) when she saw what's-his-name doing the "Black Swan" or Lily... why did he turn into the owl? Wouldn't that be incest? Was that intentional? IDK my BFF Jill.

Horror has a fine line between terrifying and hysterically funny. This movie was hysterically funny for me. Maybe others will be scared. 

Black Swan Drinking/Brain Freeze Game!

Take a swig when...

-Nina takes off her earrings

-Someone refers to her as a "sweet girl"

-Whenever Nina get's it on! And I mean whenever ;D

-Every time Lily says Nina will be/is wonderful

-Whenever Nina looks wide-eyed and confused. (Extra swig if her mouth is open!)

And that's seriously enough to get you wasted (or if you're underage, a very nice brain freeze from that slushie!)! Have fun! Hopefully you'll enjoy the movie more than me!

Black Swan- 6.5/10