Swan Dives

Despite having a lot of terrific things going for it, Black Swan turns out to be a mixed bag. I am told that a reviewer in the Wall Street Journal referred to it as a roller coaster where you begin in the middle of the ride. I would agree with that.

Here's what I liked about it:

The writing. Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin, and Scott Franklin do a superb job of showing us the pressure (including the pressure to stay thin), the bitchy rivalries, the drug use, the libidinous director, Nina’s immaturity and sexual repression, and the overbearing mother living out her unfulfilled ambitions through her daughter. In their story, the world of professional ballet is only beautiful on the stage.

The lighting and editing. It’s powerful. It’s disturbing. This is a horror story in the best sense - enough shocks to keep you nervously giggling, but not so many that it becomes an ordeal.

Natalie Portman. Losing twenty pounds gives a delicate touch of Audrey Hepburn to her face. Her dancing is lovely and she reportedly worked long and hard to make it so. (I’m sure a professional could pick it apart, but to the untrained eye it looks impressive.) She turns in an Oscar-worthy performance. If she wins, she earned it.

But here are some of the problems I had with it. Again, the writing. In the classic hero’s tale, we’re introduced to the main character(s), the story unfolds, tension rises to a climactic point, and then there’s a denouement in which everything is explained. Black Swan jumps into Nina’s life in the middle and then jumps out. It presents an interesting puzzle, but you don’t learn enough about her to care what happens to her. Tension is already high when the film opens, then it builds higher, there’s a shocking climax and the credits roll, leaving a whole lot of questions unanswered.

Was the rival slipping her drugs all along? Was she simply going insane? Since so many shocking events in the film seem to have been hallucinations, was the final event also a hallucination? What happened to the mother? The rival? The retired prima ballerina? We will never know.

Yes, I came out of the theater convinced I had gotten my money’s worth, but just as convinced that I would never want to see it again…ever. Since DVD sales are a good part of a film's profits, Black Swan is going to have to make its money up front in ticket sales. So far it's doing well there.

Submitting this week for an HBO pilot and a feature being shot down in Richmond. Checking out the talent agencies from North Carolina to New York. I've also arranged firearms instruction for the weekend. As I said, a useful skill for an actor.