Now that I've unlabeled myself as Someone-Who-Doesn't-Watch-Movies, I use the guide feature on our TV differently. I used to skip over ALL the movie channels, but now, I give them a glance. Last week I saw Black Swan listed on HBO and recalled a conversation about 6 months ago in which Kris offered me this piece of insight: "You might like Black Swan. It's...weird."
So, I started watching Black Swan. I missed about the first 10 minutes, but I figured, its a movie about ballet, how complex can it be? Also, what exactly is the deal with this movie since a. no one likes ballet and b. everyone seems to have seen this movie? I needed answers.
I don't know enough about movies to explain it properly, but the way this movie was filmed sucked me in from the start. Kinda bumpy cameras following people around? Nothing shiny? Great. I also thought the acting was incredible. I am really easily distracted by acting that isn't believable and Natalie Portman was extremely convincing. Had the acting been bad I'd have spent half the movie thinking things like "I wonder how long she had to train to learn these dances?" or "Wow, she's an ugly crier" but I actually managed to pay attention for almost the entire movie. I will say, I neared a turn-off point when the feathers first sprouted. I thought we were going down some Sci Fi path and was super pissed (there was an audible "Ohhh nooooo, not this...") Luckily that scene ended quickly. And lastly, at no point did I have any inkling of how things would end up in this movie. Win! I do wish I hadn't previously seen this SNL skit with Jim Carrey, because it certainly made me laugh at inappropriate times when watching the movie.
Two things that I now know as a result of watching this movie:
1. I think I like "character study" type movies. I put it in quotes because I didn't know this was actually a genre until yesterday. Taxi Driver, American History X, The Machinist, Black Swan. All character studies, all movies that I may not watch repeatedly, but enjoyed watching once. I must look into this segment more...
2. I'm reading The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This short book inspired both Black Swan and The Machinist (which are actually very similar stories) and I thought both were interesting, so am taking a crack at the book.
And lastly, yes, it was the uncensored version, and, yes, Brian thanks you for checking to make sure.
So, I started watching Black Swan. I missed about the first 10 minutes, but I figured, its a movie about ballet, how complex can it be? Also, what exactly is the deal with this movie since a. no one likes ballet and b. everyone seems to have seen this movie? I needed answers.
I don't know enough about movies to explain it properly, but the way this movie was filmed sucked me in from the start. Kinda bumpy cameras following people around? Nothing shiny? Great. I also thought the acting was incredible. I am really easily distracted by acting that isn't believable and Natalie Portman was extremely convincing. Had the acting been bad I'd have spent half the movie thinking things like "I wonder how long she had to train to learn these dances?" or "Wow, she's an ugly crier" but I actually managed to pay attention for almost the entire movie. I will say, I neared a turn-off point when the feathers first sprouted. I thought we were going down some Sci Fi path and was super pissed (there was an audible "Ohhh nooooo, not this...") Luckily that scene ended quickly. And lastly, at no point did I have any inkling of how things would end up in this movie. Win! I do wish I hadn't previously seen this SNL skit with Jim Carrey, because it certainly made me laugh at inappropriate times when watching the movie.
Two things that I now know as a result of watching this movie:
1. I think I like "character study" type movies. I put it in quotes because I didn't know this was actually a genre until yesterday. Taxi Driver, American History X, The Machinist, Black Swan. All character studies, all movies that I may not watch repeatedly, but enjoyed watching once. I must look into this segment more...
2. I'm reading The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This short book inspired both Black Swan and The Machinist (which are actually very similar stories) and I thought both were interesting, so am taking a crack at the book.
And lastly, yes, it was the uncensored version, and, yes, Brian thanks you for checking to make sure.
thank you for the recommendation and relating it to the machinist.
ReplyDeletei have just added this to my netflix queue and moved it to #1 ahead of pillars of the earth disc 1.
i just felt myself get a little cooler. but that was a low bar.