Reaching the Pinnacle - By Jeffrey Chen The subject of Black Swan treads a shaky ground due to its potential for being corny or campy. It's a movie about ballet dancers, and anytime you have a story concerning dancers in general, it tends to focus on backstage drama and to include the oldest cliché, a... MORE >>
After Many a Summer Dies the Swan - By Donald Levit Also about a demanding public physical activity, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is a giant step down from The Wrestler. A B-movie with humor, winning acting and the added Rocky do-or-die last chance for its bad-boy star, the latter made no big claims for itself.... MORE >>
Portman's Perfect Performance - By Cody Roy Black Swan tells the story of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), an all-too-perfect, sheltered, virgin ballerina who gets cast as the Swan Queen in a new re-imagining of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. The ballet director, Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), notorious for sleeping with his... MORE >>
Dying To Be Perfect - By Joanne Ross Darren Aronofsky’s magnificent Black Swan feels and plays more like an exquisitely choreographed cinematic ballet than a conventional film. The director has found in the literal and symbolic story of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake the perfect context to depict the tragic... MORE >>
