Weekend Movie Forecast: Black Swan Vs. The Trial

Unlike say Todd Solondz, who seems to enjoy making the world feel uncomfortable by creating excruciating circumstances for his awfully flawed characters, Darren Aronofsky puts his flawed characters in bad situations and then films it in such a way as to make the audience feel nauseous (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Following up his painful but excellent film The Wrestler, Aronofsky returns with The Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel. Portman stars as a ballerina from one of the top ballet companies in New York City who has a freak out in her head space when some hot little number pirouettes into her Swan Lake performance. The whole shebang was filmed in NYC, so you can watch Natalie flip out in your friend's apartment building and then complain how there's no way to get to Lincoln Center that quickly from Brooklyn.Reviews have been very good, with J. Hoberman from The Village Voice saying: "A near-irresistible exercise in bravura absurdity, Darren Aronofskyâs Black Swan deserves to become a minor classic of heterosexual campâat the very least, itâs the most risible and riotous backstage movie since Showgirls. The camera lurches, leaps, and pirouettes; in some scenes, it feels as if itâs being tossed around the stage along with Portman. Kitsch this bombastic becomes something primal." — Gothamist

Robert Horan

Published Dec 3, 2010

Modified Dec 3, 2010

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Click on the film stills for more details and reviews of this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: The Black Swan, The Trial, I Love You Phillip Morris, Queen of the Lot, All Good Things, Bhutto, Come Undone, Night Catches Us, Mars, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, and Black Christmas.

Weekend Movie Forecast: <em>Black Swan</em> Vs. <em>The Trial</em>