Black Swan : Watch it for Natalie

Sometimes you leave the theatre with not fullest understanding of what the movie was about. Like for Inception. So is for Black Swan. You get enthralled nonetheless. It’s beautifully pictured and ensemble of a sincere cast. Darren Aronofsky was dead-on in executing his vision of this movie. I have seen his pi and requiem of dream before, and was expecting no less.

Black swan is a struggle of saint hearted white swan to get acquainted with but thereby acquiring the traits of black swan, the dark side.

It’s an allegory at some level. But what’s supreme about this movie is Natalie’s performance in different moods and state of minds. So wide is her palette that at times screenplay get vivid because of her rather than too stark or repetitive.

It keeps you guessing and you lose sights of reality at times as it uses impressionistic style of rendering her state of mind her hallucinations. Throughout camera point of view stuck her back and you become one with her. This style of moviemaking makes storytelling so engaging . The background score was actually the soundtrack of “swan lake” ballet so it is hard to distinguish where the theme of play ends or the life striving to achieve that perfection starts.

Natalie Portman had a good run but so far her roles were too restrictive or limited in terms of scope. This one blows your mind by what is capable of doing.

So subtly used were the special effects that they don’t overpower and fills in the imagination and fear just right. The peak of the story or the imagery of thorns and feathers from her skin so precariously overlaps at the moment it like reaching the crescendo.

This is in some way revives the ballet and the art and perfection around it through form of cinema.

A must watch.

Little Miss Sunshine : Time to look back...

Its not one more in the crowd of character comedies, in fact I wont call it comedy at all. There is some good characters and pretty eccentric in their own standards too.

Our protagonist the kid who wants to participate this pre-teen beauty contest, a self-help teacher and really PITA (pain in...) practitioner at home, an adolescent and restless brother of miss sunshine who is focused to the edge of craziness to become a fighter pilot, a scholar and depressed to clinical levels uncle who just had a break up with his gay partner, mother who is trying to cope all the pressure, and the old school grandpa.

This jamboree creates this tremendous possibilities of friction, tension and drama. I mean once you have a good 'elements' identified what's left is pretty much their 'placements',...as one theater director likes to call his characters as my 'walking-talking props'.

It is of the kind of a film where you go in, have heartiest laughs without realizing that laugh is at you..the audience. In fact it ridicules the conditioning of us by mass media to have the Best in our lives and thereby making ourselves miserable. We 'all' want the best personalities and features illustrated over and over by glossy magazines, education that is intellectually stimulating and work that is rewarding and socially relevant, spouse that is sexually, emotionally stimulating and comforting, kids that listen to you and have some of your unfulfilled ambitions...anything below than this is failure and No NO. This movie has lot to say about how American living has turned into. This finds it place alongside "American Beauty" , "Requiems for a Dream" and "Ghost world". If you liked those, go for this one.

Our Indian urban-scape is slowing gonna be like that, an eventuality of set of distorted ideas that we follow about modernity and being a developed nation. Reminds me of the Eddie Vedder's song" Society" .... society, you're a crazy breed I hope you're not lonely without me ....When you want more than you have you think you need ...