SOUND OFF: BLACK SWAN: A Ballet Rhapsody on Blu-Ray

One of the most highly acclaimed and most riveting films of 2010 is undoubtedly the Academy Award-winning BLACK SWAN by Darren Aronofsky. While the stunning lead performance of Natalie Portman was the only nomination of the five (for Picture, Directing, Editing and Cinematography being the other four) to score Oscar gold, director Darren Aronofsky has now solidified himself in recent years as one of the most notable and accomplished directors of his, or any, generation. Stanley Kubrick is somewhere smiling. The Blu-Ray, released this week, brings BLACK SWAN to home video in the most, well, perfect of manners.

A Rhapsody In Ballet (And a Bit(e) of Broadway)

Balance, Bravery, Brilliance, Balls, and a little bit of Magic. That's the recipe for a success on any stage. In BLACK SWAN, the ballet world acts as a metaphor for the real world and one woman's fight to try to fly to the very top of the heap - Nina, in a career-defining performance by Natalie Portman - acts as all of our own desperate, seemingly futile attempts to get ahead and come into our own. It doesn't matter if she's fighting for the lead role on Broadway or the prima ballerina at the ballet - or the top position anywhere in any profession, for that matter - it's about the drive and the journey that drive takes her to get there. By any means necessary. The blood shed in the macabre final act of the dreamlike reverie conjured up by master magician of POV shots and in-your-face - in more ways than one - cinematography, with Aronofsky assisted on this film with the lensing of the rightfully respectEd Matthew Libatique, is representative of the pain, agony and loss associated with any ambition once enacted. But, as we slowly learn over the course of the twisty turns of the plot: just because you give it all up doesn't mean you'll get it all in the end. And, if you do, it'd going to cost you. Nina wants it; and boy, oh boy, does she get it. Everything. Exactly as she always wanted. Or, is it as her creepy mother always wanted? Or, is it as the slimy ballet director Thomas (a lecherously reptilian Vincent Cassel) always wanted? Or, is it merely an act of revenge on all of them - plus, maybe, Lily (a spitfire and love-to-hate Mila Kunis), the winsome competition and the ultimate dovetail of dovetails to the tale - or tail - of BLACK SWAN.

The key to the brilliance - or should I say staggering genius - of Aronofsky's grand opera - or should I say grant jetee - is the ambiguity of it all. Where does the dream begin and the nightmare end. Or, do I mean that in reverse? I don't know. Do you? There are a million answers and a billion questions. Does Lily even exist? Does Nina‘s mother - in a delectably campy performance by the divine Barbara Hershey - dream the whole thing up from the audience, or, at least, the final moments? What about her, does she exist? And, what exactly is the story with Winona Ryder‘s character and how does Nina play into her demise - at the ballet and, afterward, at the hospital? Is Nina a murderer to more people than one (or two)? Furthermore, My top question: Is everything after Mila Kunis (in the Ecstasy sequence) suffocates the shot with the pillow actually a dream - or, more to the point(e), a nightmare? There is lots of grist for the mill here - but it's a lean, mean meal with absolutely no fat in this hearty - and heart-rending - fantasy feast.

If there is any proof that art still exits in American cinema, it is amply evident in the work of Darren Aronofsky. PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM and THE FOUNTAIN were the mere storm before the tidal wave, it seems - as THE WRESTLER and BLACK SWAN, as well as his considerable contributions to this year's flawless THE FIGHTER (directed by David O. Russell), have proven of late. He is our answer to Stanley Kubrick, and with the considerable financial and critical success of the risky but relatively inexpensive ballet drama under discussion today ($13 million budget, over $100 box office), compounded by his recent departure from the big-screen X-MEN sequel WOLVERINE: THE BEGINNING, can assuredly attest: he is not someone to mess around with, no matter who you are. Ten years ago he backed out of BATMAN when the studio wouldn't let him have an R-rating and, now, to this day, he remains that same fearless maverick. He's an anomaly amongst directors if only for this unflinching dedication to his one, pure vision. Love it or hate it, his work is powerful and provocative. BLACK SWAN is Aronofsky's crowning achievement.

So, how can Aronofsky top BLACK SWAN? Filmmakers twice his age lack half as many modern-day classics on their resume as he now does. Perhaps, in the end, this is the perfect film for a very select group and few others - the relentlessness of the POV shots and the surrealistic structuring (even though it is in contextual order, for the most part) is sure to turn off many and this is certainly not a feel-good film by any measure. But, so what? Just because most of Broadway and almost all of Hollywood seems to be filled to the brim with disposable entertainment, this film is proof that a great director still can assemble a fine cast to create a significant achievement - as a film, or even as a mere entertainment, no matter where it is shown or performed - with less than a tenth of the budget of most studio films. Hell, most Broadway shows cost more than this film did. So, here we are - and it's a heck of a lot cheaper than a theatre ticket, even on Blu-Ray.

The Blu-Ray only heightens the heady experience of it all, with the grainy digital HD camera shooting and subtle special effects looking even more gritty and dirty and raw in the cold, stark light of the Blu-Ray. This is the type of film you want to have the spotlight really reveal all and spare none, and it surely delivers in that regard - as is oh-so-apropos given the very final image witnessed by our anything-but-lucid leading lady. The DTS-HD surround is top-notch and the hallucinogenic surround effects, kicking off before the opening titles even begin, are stupendously effective and add to the overall experience in a considerable way, something that can only be said for the types of DVDs reviewed in this column - that is, performance-based ones - and, therefore, BLACK SWAN comes with the highest praise, indeed. A solid A-plus effort all around as far as the Blu is concerned, with some nice but relatively ho-hum special features (where's the commentary, Mr. A?) - and, by the way, Target is offering a special limited edition containing the Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital Copy for the same price as the Blu-Ray alone at seemingly all other retailers, online or otherwise. Be sure to pick it up. A tale as apt and befitting for Broadway babies or ballerinas en pointe, with the most riveting lead performance by any actress this year, on any stage, BLACK SWAN is the 21st century answer to THE RED SHOES - with a satisfyingly horrific and gruesome dash of Dario Argento's SUSPIRIA, with a sparse sprinkling of David Lynch unease mixed into the stew of a filling flight of fancy upon which to feast your eyes, ears, hearts and souls again and again. Every single viewing reveals another layer of feathers and gossamer underneath... and what a prize bird at the center! Center stage, that is.

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