Black Swan

Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Written by: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz (UCLA and NYU graduate, who used to work for SNL), and John McLaughlin
Starring: Natalie Portman

This movie will leave you in awe, making you gaze at the poster while you try to soak in what has happened to last 108 minutes of your life. All the dillusions in the movie will blur the line between the reality and the made up world. The disturbing scenes will not leave you disturbed, but rather will smack you in the head for you to understand the deeper meaning within the twisted, yet simple plot.

Simply put, this psychedelic movie will give your mind a set of scrambled puzzle pieces that will confuse you and excite you for the completion at the end. When you figure out - if anyone does for sure - the complete truth and the meaning, then the exact feeling of accomplishment and immediate love for the completed meaning will arouse you to love the movie even more.

Any movie with such a high reputation from film festivals often divide the viewers with two opinions, whether the movie was up to the hype made by the professional critics, or it seems like it does not have the merits to deserve the hype. This movie, deserved the hype. It plays with people's minds, bluring the line between the reality and the made up situations by Nina (Natalie Portman). Then, the cinematography was in line with the plot, as it had a lot of close-up shots of Natalie Portman's amazing expressions sprouting from her face. The music - the music from Swan Lake - played a huge part of creating the atmosphere of the entire movie, as if the audience is watching a ballet show.  Then the colors of the movie, the white and black (originally Yin and Yang), clearly represented the good and evil. The right amount of complete computer graphic, from the talking portraits in Nina's mom's room or the sprouting of the wings. The director really pulled a lot of different elements into one coherent form, which is so difficult, yet so important.

Last but certainly not the least, the casting of Natalie Portman for Nina character was probably the best decision. I knew she was a brilliant actress, who has the most innovative ideas and pure form of love for films, but this movie really put her to the title of "the best actress of the century". The way she portrayed some of the twisted emotions of the character Nina is truly unbelievable. I specifically remember one scene where she was so excited that she got the swan queen role, and was calling her mother about the happy news. The way she portrayed the happiness with the mix of relief and confusion was simply brilliant. Also, when she was crying in front of a mirror after the first white swan part, was full of emotions that just grabbed every sense of the audience. Black Swan is simply Natalie Portman's best, and the movie's success can be credited to Natalie Portman's passion for acting.

Black Swan will become one of the classics of the 21st century. However, to understand it, will require a lot of gasping, applauding, and thinking.