Black Swan

Trying to describe an Aronofsky film can be almost as difficult as explaining a Pollack painting to someone who’s expecting a Monet – artists that think outside the box have a way of affecting their viewer more than any description can accurately portray. Black Swan is definitely one of those films, a story that might be as simply described as the tale of a ballerina who is pushing herself so hard towards perfection that she loses her grip on reality around her, and yet Aronofsky artfully layers the film to the extent that no simple description can capture the true beauty of this film.

Natalie Portman plays Nina, the lead role in Black Swan and though she’s been amazing me with her performances since Leon, she reaches new depths in this role; it’s one of the most devastating and brutal performances I’ve seen on screen – but that’s something Aronofsky seems to excel at fostering in his films. Portman literally breaks the boundaries of sanity before the audiences eyes as she transforms from shy core member, to dual-hearted lead.

Mila Kunis also stars as Lily, the free-spirited dancer who Nina envies as she outwardly embodies everything that Nina wishes to become. Over the past few years I’ve gained great respect for Kunis as an actor, as she seems to have grown with every role I’ve seen her in. In Black Swan she manages to be both daring, brash and domineering and yet she holds your attention on screen just as thoroughly as Portman.

Black Swan owes something very specific to Hitchcock – the ability to lie to the audience. Perhaps what makes Black Swan so tense and thrilling is that as the film progresses you are never sure if what is happening on screen is real, or if it is happening in Nina’s mind; it’s a powerful tribute to the director that we stay intrigued by this, because it brings us into Nina’s plight, we can’t trust what’s going on any more than Nina can. However, when the credits finally roll all that matters is that you’ve been pinned to your seat for the better part of two hours, anxious to see what will happen to Nina.

What I love about an Aronofsky film, including Black Swan is that you can tell every inch of every frame matters to Aronofsky. The smallest details are added together to be the most important, from the textures of fabric in wardrobe, to small visual effects that may go unnoticed by most of the audience. Aronofsky has as way of melding fantasy and reality in a way that makes the fantasy look absolutely real, and when necessary makes the reality look like the dream. Aronofsky has never done a film that hasn’t been powerful and dynamic – he’s a director with a clear voice and style, one that firmly belongs in cinema and I am sure his films will be some of the many that film scholars discuss for years to come.





Director: Darren Aronofsky


Nina: I had the craziest dream last night about a girl who has turned into a swan, but her prince falls for the wrong girl and she kills herself.

New York, I Love You

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Originally uploaded by FameJournal

New York, I Love You is the second in the Cities of Love series; this is a ongoing film of anthology films that focus on stories of love, love of the romantic kind and love of the city in which they are set. For those not familiar with the definition of an anthology film it is a group of short films, usually based around the same topic. All of these short films have differing directors and writers and are stitched into one movie.

The first in the Cities of Love series was Paris, Je T’aime. While the differences in the “style” of Paris vs. New York are subtle the basic differences are that Paris was much more fanciful, and the Paris installment did not “stitch” together; while I love Paris, Je T’aime very much it did suffer from each vignette feeling separate and cut off from the others. New York, I Love You does not suffer from this; in order to feel more cohesive New York does not simply jump into the next short, instead it segways or transitions to each new story by meandering around the city. Characters even pop in and out of the background of each others stories to further the feeling of a cohesive environment that all these stories are set in.

My favorite story in the entire film probably had to be the segment with Ethan Hawke. He plays a writer who tries to smooth talk a woman outside of a bar.

I know that what I saw of New York, I Love You was a preview screening this appeared to be a fully finished version of the film – titles, credits and all – and yet I remember hearing that New York, I Love You would contain the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett is even listed in the directors credit on IMDB and yet her short film segment is not in the movie. I did enjoy the directorial debut of Natalie Portman though.

This is not a film series that everyone will enjoy. However, if you want to experience a non-typical movie, or just something very fun, beautiful and meaningful this is something you should see. New York, I Love You is not a typical romantic comedy.

Directors: Faith Akin, Yvan Attal, Allen Hughes, Sunji Iwai, Wen Jiang, Scarlett Johnasson, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Martson, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner, Andrei Zvyagintsev & Randall Balsmeyer
Maggie: Jacinda Barrett
Molly: Rachel Bilson
David: Orlando Bloom
Mr. Riccoli: James Caan
Johnny: Hayden Christensen
Isabelle: Julie Christie
Gus: Bradley Cooper
Alex: Chris Cooper
Lydia: Drea de Matteo
Garry: Andy Garcia
Writer: Ethan Hawke
Jacob: Shia LaBeouf
Mitzie: Cloris Leachman
Ex-Girlfriend: Blake Lively
Rifka: Natalie Portman
Hooker: Maggie Q
Camille: Christina Ricci
Abe: Eli Wallach
Anna: Robin Wright Penn
Prom Boy: Anton Yelchin