That’s right. After more than a year since its glorious global release, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (BS) still annoys the shit out of me. And not just because Aronofsky eschews all semblances of subtlety and adopts instead offensive in-your-face visual conceits to convey ideas reeking of half-baked superficiality (I’m so over that), but because, time and time again, I have been forced to listen to people (Ed Wood sympathizers, no doubt) telling me how awesome it is:
“Oh, you know, the mirrors are used to like, symbolize right, this like…um… multiplicity of identity, you know?”
“It’s like…daring and bold and inventive, you know? The lesbian scene was very bold and daring, and like…it’s so cool, you know? Like when the black wings grew out of her, right, I couldn’t believe it.”
Omg stop kthx.
Admittedly, BS’ visual conceits are not just empty exercises in set design and special effects. The mirrors are obviously symbols that chronicle the fragmentation of Nina’s identity and serve to express the tensions between her “uptight virgin” and “lesbian slut” sides. The use of black wings is obviously a counterpoint to Nina’s endless supply of white dresses. But children…making sense is imperative; making sense does not make a film great, or even good. On the contrary, the abundance of clichés is both cringe-inducing and irritating – especially when constantly faced with hapless sycophants.
Let’s poke around Aronofsky’s oh-so-twisted mind:
“Natalie Portman is hot. Mila Kunis is hotter. They should make lesbian porn together. I should help them.”
“But how do I pretend I want to convey something complex about identity? Oh, I know. I’ll use mirrors. It looks pretty and it gives Natalie a chance to flaunt her Harvard Psych degree by making multiple references to the relevance of Lacanian psychoanalysis to confuse otherwise-credible film critics into liking mah shit.”
“Maybe I’ll make the mother evil.”
But to clear the air, I’m not wholly against Black Swan. Fear and paranoia permeate the film’s atmosphere, and more often than not they come crashing down on the audience, at once suffocating and sublime. The actors are obviously very dedicated in their mission to salvage Aronofsky’s weak source material, because the acting is uniformly top-notch – even if Natalie Portman’s dancing was mostly done by an overlooked stunt double (OH SNAP). The strategic placing of mirrors occasionally makes for a stunning scene. The extensive use of close-ups and grainy cinematography effectively disposes of ballet’s veneer of grace and poshness. If this movie were less drenched in Aronofsky’s half-baked stylistic flourishes, and people didn’t keep droning on about how amazing it is, I would probably like it more. Also, to Aronofsky’s credit, he is not a bad director. Requiem for a Dream (I approve of this film btw) was one of the most inventive films of the last decade, and all of its stylistic flourishes – the score, the hip-hop montages, the clinical yet dim lighting, the juxtaposition of melodrama and subtle, complex subtexts – were extremely well-developed. For his sake, as well as for that of his diehard fans, I really hope that Black Swan was just a throwaway creative outlet to purge him of all his unoriginality.
Also I quasi-apologize for the unrestrained grumpiness. I just woke up from a nap and found out my Ruffles stash had been wiped out.
Aloha bitches. KevOUT. (Geddit? Kevin out? KevIN out? KevOUT? TROLOLOLOLOLOL)
(/badhumor)
therein, Therin. 