I bought a copy of Black Swan on DVD, largely because I heard such good things about it. But when I watched it I was disappointed. It was technically well put together and the acting throughout is great, but I couldn't help feeling it would have been better without the weirdness. Seems to me there was a lot of weird shit bolted on to make everything seem more mysterious.
I'm not against weirdness in movies. I like the wtf is going on feeling. But it has to be properly attached to the action. I'm beginning to come round to the feeling that Aronofsky reaches for the "oddness toolkit" as a substitute for having something to say, or to shore up where he hasn't said something very well.
I thought Black Swan was alright, but I got into Aronofsky with
haha I used a symbol and it ate the entire fucking paragraph that followed. So upset.
I thought Black Swan was alright, but I got into Aronofsky with π and really really liked that, saw it at the cinema and got the soundtrack and so on. Requiem For A Dream was incredible, but also incredibly bleak so I've only seen it the once and maybe I'd have a new opinion now if I tried again? Plus that amazing track in the soundtrack got borrowed for the LotR trailer and then overused by nearly everything else for several years. The Wrestler was good. I even love The Fountain which I'm sure most right-thinking people would find unbearably slow and pretentious. The screening I saw of that had the people behind the spaaaace FX doing a talk beforehand, it's all particles in droplets of water, as pioneered by the older one of them in the Superman intro. But since then I lost interest, I saw Noah by mistake I think and cannot recall any of it but for thinking maybe its got some stone angel monster things? And this Mother! has been sitting on my hard disk for about two years unwatched and I've not got around to it and don't know when I will.
now the paragraph got even longer, if the symbol eats this one I might as well write an article.
I thought the fountain was a straight up advertisement for Adobe After Effects, like several others of the day.
Don't let PB know. I tried that shit once and was firmly put in my place.
He clearly divides opinion, or some of his stuff is great and some isn't, or both.
I wanted to like Black Swan since friends I trust told me it was fab. But then I thought it was meh, and could have been a great, if old-fashioned, story about rivalry and ambition without the psycho stuff.
I was totally neutral about Mother! (keep missing the exclamation mark) before watching but then thought it was well crafted, well acted, shit.
The thing is, I really liked Pi too. But what I've seen and heard since is making me think again. Maybe he just went off the rails a bit.