Obsession with Perfection

I finally got to see Black Swan! This was the single movie I could hardly wait to watch last year, ever since I saw the trailer in October. Unfortunately, the movie never hinted an appearance in the Coming-Soon and Now-Showing lists in the latter part of 2010. According to the trailer, December 3 was the screening date, but that must have been for the US only.

Earlier this year, my Twitter contacts raved about how much they loved the movie, which they downloaded via torrent. I even asked for a copy from a friend, even though I knew I was going to watch it in the theaters when that fateful day arrives. But god it was such a long wait. In the meantime, I settled with the HD trailers/previews on the iTunes movie trailers site. And setting the (disturbingly) gorgeous movie poster as my tablet wallpaper. I constantly expressed my impatience to wait for the Philippine screening to Candy, who had seen (and loved) the (leaked) movie.

So yeah, I was kindasorta obsessed with Black Swan. More particularly, I was obsessed with the scene where Natalie Portman’s character (blood-shot eyes and all) pulls out a feather from her back.

That was a total WTF moment in the trailer and it just stuck with me since I first saw it. I guess this was the prime reason I needed to see the film. I told both Candy and JB that I would be majorly disappointed if this scene were either: 1) a dream, 2) a metaphor, or 3) borne out of a character’s imagination. I said I NEEDED this scene to be “biological” or else I was going to be disappointed. JB asked me, so you want her to mutate into a bird? (My answer would have been yes — so long as it’s a plausible transformation and not a campy transmogrification.) Candy said I had to watch it to get the explanation. She also said that I might be able to relate to the main character. (Though I’m not sure if by that she meant Nina’s craziness or her obsession with perfection haha!)

The movie didn’t garner all-rave reviews. Critics claimed that it was too literal, and that while Natalie Portman was good, it wasn’t exactly an award-winning performance. Let this be a lesson to me now not to pay too much attention to movie reviews of films I’m bound to watch anyway. You see, instead of sitting back and enjoying the show, I paid keen attention to every detail to see if the reviews were right. And then I would discuss the plot with JB and make predictions, probably much to the annoyance of our co-viewers.

Still, I immensely loved the movie. Natalie Portman was INTENSE!

But it wasn’t without its problems. Mostly, the negative reviews were spot-on. For one, the blatant references didn’t serve the movie well. For instance, when the director (Thomas Leroy) informs the company that only one cast member is going to portray both white and black swans, the scene conveniently cuts to his mirror reflection, depicting two images of his face.

On the topic of opposites, the literal suggestions were made one too many times with Nina dressed in white/pastel colors and Lily (Mila Kunis’s character) in black. I felt the movie would have been more successful had it employed mere allusions instead of obvious references. At times it felt like the movie had been written for a slow/unintelligent viewer. (Yes, we do get that Lily personifies the black swan but must she have those black wings tattooed on her back? And must the tattoo be brought to focus several times?)

In spite of these quibbles, I still found myself at the edge of my seat throughout the movie. Sure, the sprouting feather scene was not all that (and if I may add, Nina’s legs contorting into the form of a swan’s veered into corny territory). BUT I enjoyed the overall story and was entertained from start to finish. Natalie didn’t get all-stellar reviews on her acting but I thought she was stellar here. Her black swan performance at the end was just… wow. I am without words to describe it. But you know what truly made this a winner for me?

Winona Ryder playing Beth MacIntyre.

I don’t know who got a kick out of this- the scriptwriter or the casting director. Oh such cheeky people. If it wasn’t enough to cast Winona as a has-been performer, her character had to have an extra “The Dying Swan” description in the credits. AND, the cherry on top of the sundae is, of course, Winona’s character delivering the line of all lines: