Four Stars

I have always had a problem with nail biting. Let’s hope Portman can get it under control before the baby (wee Oscar) comes. Four star Black Swan has been openly referred to as ‘bananas’ and ‘bonkers’ which yes it is, but very quickly, is that because it’s a film about a lady going crazy in a mostly mysterious profession? Mysterious, bar the stories of broken bones, vicious ego and stifling competition.

Portman’s Nina is seething with such exhausted frustration that she manages to keep it together for over half the film is a wonder. That feeling of a tightening all through ones’ world – wanting to just ask questions, accept some soothing love and spill out mind whirls is a reality few people avoid completely. Portman pushes hard on the emotional realities of insecurity about who one is. Her desperately competitive and malicious mother makes the first hour of this film deeply troubling to watch; barely watching a created being, no sense of self exists for poor Nina.

Not unlike our discovered protagonist in Catfish. So unsure and full of longing that the only natural conclusion is one of sprawling deceit. I wouldn’t want to ruin this documentary – debate rages about whether this is a documentary or an elaborate ruse – to me it’s a documentary as that’s how the filmmaker wants it to be received. I see no further reason to tear possible falsities or coincidences apart. Well, maybe a wee bit of tearing. But without spraying spoilers all over this blog like a wet dog – the creation of characters and their obligations to others first and foremost are extraordinary. Film subject Nev Schulman at one point asks why his brother, the filmmaker, insists on continuing to film as he feels more and more uncomfortable with where the story is headed. He, as us, is reminded he has agreed to whatever was going to happen, and therefore has handed over more than expected to his sniggering brother, his mate, and a couple of reasonably shoddy handheld cameras.

Over the last month I have seen several stellar films. Several of these films fall into a great human nature ditch – to what extent to we control our fate. Allow me to illustrate. Exit Through The Gift Shop is one of the oddest laugh out loud films I have seen in a while, besides True Grit, but I get a feeling the Coen Brothers' rider was laughing gas and shrooms. For those of you that know little about what is commonly known as ‘The Bansky’ film – this documentary is the work of Bansky – rather than a film about the pesky stencil wielding Bristolian. The subject becomes Mr Brainwash, or just Terry, a man, who quite astonishingly created a multi-million dollar fortune which, through Bansky’s eyes, was created through absolute sheer gall and one massive misunderstanding.

There is a sense in which all the pondering and insecurity the world stirs maybe should be kept to the cunning and relaxed approach of Bansky on screen, or even the gentle and honest approach of Catfish, a film which sees lives thrown about like a cat in a washing machine, (emerging soggy, shuddering but eventually proud and unperturbed after the ordeal.) Black Swan is a tough watch, and the music of Swan Lake, though spectacular, is not wholly soothing. I wonder how many broken people, determined to make their graceful mark on something (swan analogy) and longed to reach the top of something since wished that Bansky’s cynicism post Terry had hit them... ‘I used to encourage everyone to make art, not so much now.’