The Wrestler (2008), 3/4 Stars

Darren Aronofsky. Oh how weird you are.

Surprisingly, this film is an exception to his weirdness. I'm not insulting him because out of his works, they are very good. I intend to see his Requiem for a Dream when I am a little older. Anyways.

Mickey Rourke plays a role that might be even autobiographical to himself. If you read about him, he's actually a quite damaged man. I'm not insulting him either, because he delivered a great performance in the film. It's almost upsetting that he lost to Sean Penn (I'm still sore about his The Tree of Life hate). Anyways.

In the film, I feel that Rourke's Randy sympathized with himself, and Tomei's stripper Cassidy. She's aging in her art (I don't consider stripping an art,) similar to Rourke losing his talent in wrestling.

The film plays out like so: Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an aging wrestler is up for a 20th anniversary match. Problem is, he's had a health problem, and his relationships are crumbling to an extreme degree (Cassidy and his daughter).

It's an interesting plot that plays out in thin events, not flat out telling you what happens. Which is my main problem with the film. IT'S TOO THIN! It's main highlight is Rourke's performance, to such a subtle degree.

3/4 Stars

Black Swan (2010), 3.5/4 Stars

The closest thing I've seen to a ballet is Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. I'm not going to lie, but the plot is very weird, and almost convinces you not to watch the movie. Ballerinas? Fighting for a role? Sexual adventures? All in the same film? Sounds like a real turn-off.

With Aronofsky's steady hand at directing (The Wrestler), the film is almost a visual beauty. The tricks and illusions looked good enough to me, and they were really good glance at a hallucination.

But I wondered, what were the points of the segments? The character Nina had some of the most cliched, cheest hallucinations ever. That's what degraded the film.

The opening half is very good, with easy to follow characters. It's evident, right from the start, that Barbara Hershey is very protective of her Natalie Portman (Who wouldn't be?). Anyway, she is very secluded and almost immature. She still has stuffed animals in her room, and is very protective of her miniature ballerina music box. But that's merely just an opening to the "white swan" of the characters.

The "black swan" characters are more outgoing, wild, and successful in a way. There's a new ballerina in the troupe, and her name is Lily. She is competing for the role of the Swan Queen in the next ballet. The head, Tomas Leroy, or Toma, chooses Nina. Nina's not perfect, though.

First off, Nina is not as outgoing to play the role of "Black Swan". Fortunately, she is very good as the White Swan. (Which probably won her the role). The thing is, Toma wants one ballerina to play both swan characters. Upsetting to Lily, she challenges Nina mentally, socially, and sexually.

The twist is, these challenges are affecting Nina psychologically. She has hallucinations, unique dreams, and other thoughts.

As I stated above, the hallucinations and twists are cliched, and the degrade the film from perfection. Bummer.

3.5/4 Stars