Black Swan – Laura Cress
A psychological thriller centring on ballet is certainly not the first idea for a film that would spring to the mind of many people, but it’s to the credit of Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky that it did, as it’s created undoubtedly one of the most original and visually stunning films of recent times.
The film concerns the fragile and ballet obsessed Nina (Natalie Portman) who, when given the leading role of the Swan Queen by teacher Thomas (Vincent Cassel) for the production of Swan Lake, must learn how to play both parts of the innocent White Swan as well as the seductive Black Swan. However, the arrival of dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) throws Nina’s world into confusion as she becomes convinced that the new ballerina is attempting to replace her, but in turn is enticed by Lily’s close personality fit to the Black Swan.
A mere plot description can hardly sum up the true complexity of the film, which deals with several themes that Aronofsky has been toying with for a long time – obsession with an element of art to the point of hysteria, which can be seen in his earlier film The Wrestler, and the idea of the double or doppelganger. Both of these ideas are intertwined perfectly, the film asking us to question how much we can trust Nina’s version of events when she has become so obsessed with the role of the Swan Queen that she frequently hallucinates events with Lily.
The misé en scene of Black Swan perfectly inhabits this world of frenzied paranoia and obsession, full of hanging mirrors, grungy backstage corridors and sparse, bare lighting that capture the physical brutality of ballet brilliantly. As Nina’s transformation from White Swan to Black Swan begins to take shape, it is fitting that the magic realism elements of Black Swan too are brought into the fore – is the black masked face of the evil Swan Lake character von Rothbart another hallucination or reality? Are the marks and eventual whole spines of feathers found in Nina’s skin a sign of her delusions or something more? Aronofsky never attempts to give a clear answer, and rightly so. Whilst it is therefore true to a certain extent that the idea of White versus Black is extremely overemphasised, it adds an element of theatricality that works well with the bizarre juxtapositions of real life and fantasy in the film.
Having very recently won the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role as Nina, Natalie Portman undoubtedly needs to be mentioned, as her portrayal of a fall from grace to corruption is mesmerising. However, Mila Kunis’ performance should also not be forgotten, giving a much needed edgy counterpoint to Portman’s sad doe-eyed Nina.
There are very few faults with Black Swan as it is, but that perhaps is its one true fault in itself – just as Nina becomes so caught up in the world of ballet, so too is the film so obsessed with the idea of parallels and the mania of expression – very little actually happens. Perhaps however that’s the entire idea – to dedicate the viewing time wholly to this mad world of theatrics and drama, not to real time consequences and life. A final word of warning – if you were mildly surprised in Billy Elliot when the young girl said out of nowhere that she could show Billy her naughty bits, be prepared to be flabbergasted by Aronofsky’s deeply sexual and violent thriller. For a film about parallels it is ironically likely to divide most people on its point and its merit, but one thing is for sure, Black Swan is most definitely worth a gander.
Morning Glory – Olivia Waring
As an individual who takes little pleasure in watching these so-called “rom-com” films, I expected to find Morning Glory highly underwhelming. However, once I had gotten over Rachel McAdams jumping around and screaming like a four-year-old on blue smarties, the film began to charm me most unexpectedly.
The story tells of a highly-strung broadcasting producer, Becky Fuller (McAdams), struggling to revive an early morning news programme, Daybreak. After firing the male anchor, she turns to Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) to replace him, but his snobbery and stubbornness begins causing her great problems, as well as his disdain for the co-host played by Diane Keaton. Ford plays the pompous, bitter ex-anchorman with the kind of poisonous regard that kills small animals. He has a lovable deadpan demeanour which clashes with Keaton’s caricature of a bitchy television diva nicely. Rachel McAdams is adorable without being nauseating, but Jeff Goldblum’s appearance as McAdams’ pessimistic boss seemed a bit of a waste of his talents. The romantic element of the film was, luckily, not as slushy as I thought it would be. I identified with McAdams’ inability to behave normally around fit men, namely Patrick Wilson, the bit-of-alright for the female audience. Having said that, my flatmate Rachel preferred wrinkly old Harrison Ford – each to their own, I suppose.
Morning Glory also pays homage to one of my favourite movies, Groundhog Day, when at the beginning a newsreader on McAdams’ team reports from the groundhog festival. I laughed, a lot, maybe too loudly. The rest of the cinema was a little frightened.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film, and did have tears in my eyes at one point (yes, that’s right). Although it did not scale the emotional and philosophical depths of other recent releases, it delivered great gags and was one of the most uplifting films I’ve seen in yonks. I can’t believe I’m about to write this, but go and see it!
The Green Hornet – Sarah Green
Seth Rogen (Superbad) plays super-rich, idle, LA playboy Britt Reid in this superhero-action romp. Britt’s father, James (Wilkinson), is a media-tycoon and owns the Daily Sentinel, and it is upon his death that Britt takes control of his father’s publishing empire. Britt decides to tackle crime in LA, along with his late-fathers servant/engineer, Kato (Chou), but more for an egotistical trip than with altruistic intentions.
Britt and Kato decide to be “good guys pretending to be bad guys” and thus Britt’s unconventional-superhero ‘The Green Hornet’ is born (with a very dapper costume). Kato becomes his side-kick and is really the brains and brawn behind their endeavour. They meet their arch-nemesis in LA’s criminal-mastermind Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz) — cue many ‘cat-and-mouse’ chases. Only when Britt discovers conspiracy regarding his late father does he really start acting as a super-hero with altruistic intentions.
There are many laugh-out-loud scenes in this predictably enjoyable, action-fuelled romp. The star of the film for me is Chou. His turn as Kato is reminiscent of a young, more street Q (Bond). Waltz is also superb, portraying Chudnofsky as an unpredictable, trigger-happy sociopath.
Although there are many funny moments, much of the humour revolves around the same jokes (pronouncing Chudnofsky’s name) and there could have been a bit more than a one-dimensional tone to the humour. This film, as is becoming the norm, was released as 2-D and 3-D formats. Don’t waste money on 3-D, it adds nothing to the quality of the film. James Franco turns out a great cameo as wannabe top-dog to the Chudnofsky throne, Danny ‘Crystal’ Clear, and it’s frustrating that this character wasn’t used more. Last, but not least, Rogen still seems to be a bit of a one-trick pony and could do with breaking the type-cast characters he plays.
One does not expect this film to be ground-breaking, but it is nowhere near on par with geek-superhero Scott Pilgrim’s outing. The 2D version of The Green Hornet is worth watching, just save those 3-D glasses for another film.