"fancy footwork" by david denby

Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” was a passionate melodrama full of grotesque emphasis, gloriously artistic in a way that deters the film from other traditional ballerina movies, and it certainly doesn’t deserve to be described as “trashy” and “incoherent”. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I can’t help but to disagree with David Denby’s article Fancy Footwork. Aronofsky’s films is an acquired taste, and although he has the habit to display the self-mutilation theme amongst a variety of his other films (i.e. “The Wrestler” and “Requiem for a Dream”), that isn’t a big enough flaw to describe him as an insecure artist.

From beginning to end of the film, I was completely engaged into the plot, unable to predict the so-called tragedy of Nina Sayers life spiraling downward. Much like Aronofsky’s previous film “The Wrestler”, he shows single-minded professionalism in the pursuit of a career, ultimately leading to the destruction of personal lives. The handheld camera work was certainly appropriate to emphasize the certain demise of Nina’s personal life.

The extremities of each sequence was also entirely appropriate, if only to exhibit meticulous perfectionism, the kind of physical and mental training work that takes control over the normality’s of life. What made Black Swan so successful, in my humble opinion, was the undertone theme that perfection in one area of life has led to sacrifices in others. Any hindsight of “normal reality” would have taken away the magic of Black Swan. Besides, I don’t see other directors exploring the self-mutilation undertone like Aronofsky had with his beauties, which shows without saying that Aronofsky has the backbone to create films unlike any other.

David Denby also reviews another movie, called “Love and Other Drugs”. I have yet to see this movie, but I have no ambitions to. This may be bias of me, but I’m not much of an Anne Hathaway fan.