Black Swan

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) wins the lead role in the epic ballet, Swan Lake. She seamlessly fits in to the role of the White Swan, however playing the Black Swan proves elusive. As she strives to get under skin of the darker alter ego, she she finds her own dark side seeping out. Darren Aronofsky as always pushes the limit to shock and thrill. The film is very watchable in an edge of your seat kind of way but it felt like a watered down version of Helen Oyeyemi's Icarus Girl.

Rating: * * +

The Fountain

Past, present and future collide in this film as each time stream's protagonist searches for eternal life to save his love. The doctor races against time to find a cure for brain tumors so that his wife can be saved. A warrior trudges through the jungles of Peru to find the tree of eternal  life to save his country. An astronaut flies through space in an encapsulated bubble with  an aged tree in hope that a dying star can save it. A film that explores man's thirst for eternal life but yet doesn't examine the meaning of having it.

Rating: * * +

Pi

The famous Darren Aronofsky thriller about mathematics and a man's obsession with numbers to unlock an universal code in nature. Shot in grainy black and white film maybe to lend some authenticity to the film, it left me feeling underwhelmed. Maybe the build up of the hype over the years lead to bloated expectations.

Rating: * +

The Wrestler

It has been made out to be the renaissance of Mickey Rourke the actor - which it is. But where it really does have something interesting to say is the behind-the-scene look at professional wrestling. A sport that I never followed due to its theatrics - but was pleasantly surprised by the the high levels of camaraderie amongst fellow wrestlers and though contrived, one realises that physical pain inflicted is all real. Brilliantly captured - right from pumping in of illegal steroids, choreographing of the fight scenes and the quirkiness of the props & personalities on stage.

The plot itself is predictable in many ways - a desperately lonely individual attempting to break out of his slow path to destruction, reaches out to people that matter to him and hits the wall of expected inevitability. The supporting cast includes Marisa Tomei who plays a strip club dancer - does a good job, in her usual refreshing manner. However, the predictability of the broad story line takes nothing away from the execution of the movie - the wrestling scenes; the trailer park life; and in many ways, the recreation of the lost years of Mickey Rourke.

Mickey Rourke has been around for a while since coming back from his life in the boxing ring in the early 90s. This movie can be considered a tribute to the man. Not that he has great achievements against his name, but its just that he repeatedly played dodgy characters with a certain elegance and remarkably well. Its easy to forget his movies, but some stick to memory - like Wild Orchid and Angel Heart. Am sure Kogi K will remember the latter. I plug Mickey Rourke in the same league as some other unconventional guys like Ray Liotta & Kevin Bacon - people who have only been in rather ordinary films, but always bring a certain distinct intensity to their performances.

Anyway, here is his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes - interesting contribution from another lost soul from his generation Axl Rose and his comments on the director Darren Aronofsky who brought us this :



Rating: * * * +

Requiem for a Dream

A chronicle of the slow spiraling descent into the dark well of addiction. The reasons to look into the well may differ but in its depth there is only ugliness. It is a wonder that the actors (Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly) walked away from the film in one piece. The atmosphere created by Kronos Quartet adds to this deadly, spin chilling and scary phantasmagoria.

Rating: * * *