Black Swan
Been wanting to watch this for the longest time, but just never could get around to it. I really enjoyed it, though creeped out. Mirrors infest the movie, and I am creeped out by mirrors. It's not a phobia per se, but I don't particularly care for them, so all the mirror shenanigans were like DNW. Natalie Portman did an excellent job. I feel like she deserved her Oscar for the work she did. Whether she deserved it competitively though, idk, as I haven't seen the other performances, but for the commitment, intensity, and craft she showed, fuck yeah. And I feel like I really need to re-evaluate my stance on her, and be side-eyed at people who dislike her. There are, of course, plenty of legitimate reasons to dislike her, but her being intelligent, accomplished, and beautiful really isn't good enough. There is something seriously wrong in casting her as an "uppity" bitch because... what? She goes to Harvard? She has published scientific papers? Which isn't to say that we don't all have our own unreasonable, illogical, and totally irrational hatred for people. And like I said, there are definitely good reasons to hate her. But it's the same old deal, where I find pause at the sight of women hating on other women where the root cause seems to be ingrained sexism.
I think that's just a roundabout way of saying that I've been hanging around ONTD too often these days, hahaha.
Anyway, the movie itself. I like that it's over the top and grandiose and melodramatic and fuck all crazypants. I really see all the places where it's a companion piece to The Wrestler. Some of the reviews led me to believe that the ending comes out of nowhere, and that frustrates me, because I was almost expecting something REALLY REALLY bizarre or made no narrative sense, but the ending is EXACTLY as it should be, which became almost a letdown instead of something satisfying, so. Bleh. Mila Kunis was fab, and gorgeous. NGH. Throughout the movie, I was strongly reminded of Repulsion, and lo and behold, that was indeed a main inspiration.
There is some stuff here to unpack about female sexuality, repression, and all that, but I'm not sure I have the brain power to really get into it. Suffice to say, it's problematic and intriguing at the same time. If somebody wants to take up on it with me in the comments though, I welcome discussion.
I think that's just a roundabout way of saying that I've been hanging around ONTD too often these days, hahaha.
Anyway, the movie itself. I like that it's over the top and grandiose and melodramatic and fuck all crazypants. I really see all the places where it's a companion piece to The Wrestler. Some of the reviews led me to believe that the ending comes out of nowhere, and that frustrates me, because I was almost expecting something REALLY REALLY bizarre or made no narrative sense, but the ending is EXACTLY as it should be, which became almost a letdown instead of something satisfying, so. Bleh. Mila Kunis was fab, and gorgeous. NGH. Throughout the movie, I was strongly reminded of Repulsion, and lo and behold, that was indeed a main inspiration.
There is some stuff here to unpack about female sexuality, repression, and all that, but I'm not sure I have the brain power to really get into it. Suffice to say, it's problematic and intriguing at the same time. If somebody wants to take up on it with me in the comments though, I welcome discussion.