'Black Swan': A gorgeous nightmare

'Black Swan': A gorgeous nightmare
'Black Swan' is at once gorgeous and gloriously nutso, a trippy, twisted fantasy that delights and disturbs in equal measure.
REVIEW

Darren Aronofsky takes the same stripped-down fascination with, and appreciation for, the minutiae of preparation that he brought to his Oscar-nominated 'The Wrestler' -- the best film of 2008, according to yours truly -- and applies it to the pursuit of a different kind of artistry: ballet. All the intimate, behind-the-scenes moments are there, the matter-of-fact

glimpses of the tricks that go into the performance as well as the toll this demanding activity takes on the body.

But then the director mixes in a wildly hallucinatory flair as 'Black Swan' enters darker psychological territory. Working with his frequent cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, and incorporating some dazzling visual effects, Aronofsky spins a nightmare scenario within a seemingly gentle, pristine world. The camera swoops and swoons, making us feel as off-kilter as the film's tormented heroine. The visions and dreams soar seriously over-the-top at times, but always knowingly so, and with great style; 'Black Swan' wallows in its grandiosity, and if you're willing to go along with it, you'll find yourself wowed by one of the best films of the year.

Natalie Portman gives it her all, physically and mentally, in a brave and demanding performance as Nina, a driven New York City ballerina who has zero life outside of dance. Portman had studied ballet growing up, but 'Black Swan' required a grueling regimen of training five hours a day, everyday, for 10 months before production even began.

Innocently enduring a sheltered existence with her smothering mother, Erica (a deeply creepy Barbara Hershey), a former ballet dancer herself now living vicariously through her daughter, Nina is stuck in a state of arrested development. She's immensely talented and dedicated but still a child inside, as evidenced by the fluffy stuffed bunnies that populate her girly-pink bedroom, and the way her mommy still tucks her in at night.