Sunday Afternoon Movie: Black Swan

I'll come right out and say that today's movie recommendation is not for the faint hearted. A bunch of us went to see Black Swan a couple of weeks ago and it certainly gained mixed reactions from the group - though we were all unanimous in the fact that it scared the hell out of us!



Personally, Black Swan blew me away. It is relentlessly intense, as the credits rolled I felt completely battered by the experience, but in the best possible way. The close-up hand held camera approach immerses you into the central character's descent into insanity and delicacies of the score (taking inspiration from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake) really add to the sense of foreboding. 

As for the dancing, I'm possibly not the best person to analyse here - ballerina I ain't! - but I was struck by how well the film captured the amount of work and strength that dancers put into making their performances seem so effortless. And for what it's worth, Portman's final dance as the Swan Queen was jaw-dropping - I don't think I blinked once!

If you're feeling brave, go see.