BLACK SWAN, intentionally funny
I know, I know. Yes, I have a penchant for posting hilarious YouTube videos on this blog probably far too often. But wait! Seriously, I have discovered a girl who is so freaking funny, I cannot even stand it. Please let me introduce you to Gloria Shuri Nava. With a name like that you better be fierce!
Read More »Small appendages and BLACK SWAN
Ouch. I’ve never spent so much time in a film, focused upon – literally – the leathery skin of cuticles, tough toes, and fleshy ear lobes from which earrings go on and off, on and off. Yep, Darren Aronofsky’s BLACK SWAN is all fingers fingers toes toes, abused in such new and uncomfortable ways that you’ll vow to never use a pair of nail scissors again. EVER. And you thought the movies didn’t have the power to change your life! Once again, and with a different DP (THE WRESTLER = Maryse Alberti and BLACK SWAN = Matthew Libatuque), Aronofsky is (literally) following behind a struggling performer, this one’s insecurities expressed as meek, worried perfectionism as opposed to Micky Rourke’s loud bravado. But unlike THE WRESTLER, BLACK SWAN is a horror film, really, and the most beautiful horror film to emerge in a good long time. True to form, Aronofsky keeps his protagonist’s head squarely in the middle of the frame as he trails behind troubled Nina (Natalie Portman), her bun bobbing along top her emaciated frame.
Read More »BLACK SWAN
The catchiest tagline right now for BLACK SWAN, director Darren Aronofsky’s follow up to THE WRESTLER, is “psychosexual thriller.” It might also billed as an action flick, what with all of Natalie Portman’s jumps, twirls, plies, her mad dashes down hallways and corridors, her rampant mirror smashing, her feverish dancing in a sweaty, crowded nightclub and her boisterous “lezzy fantasy.” Shot handheld, much of it from Portman’s point of view, it makes for a frantic, seat-gripping hour and a half.
Read More »What makes a film trailer good?
I’ve been asking myself this question for weeks, mostly because Lisa and I are in the middle of cutting the trailer for our own movie, SMALL, BEAUTIFULLY MOVING PARTS. It’s really hard! We have an amazing editor named Cindy Yoon to lead this effort, and she created something awesome … to be premiered once we have a festival screening. But in the meantime, it has prompted a lot of thinking about how trailers are structured. What is needed? Plot? Beauty shots? Constructing a feeling … that’s not actually in the film? What is ultimately going to pull people in? How do these little machines work? I gave a closer look to trailers for two movies I’ve seen recently, and one I haven’t seen (but want to).
Read More »Who designed the posters for BLACK SWAN?
It’s still unclear who designed these remarkable posters for Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming film BLACK SWAN, but whoever it was has certainly done their Russian Social Realist homework. When 99% of movie posters rely on photographs of the cast, it’s refreshing to see someone do it better with three colors and strong graphics, the way they did it in Eastern Europe back in the 1930s.
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