Black Swan

After a lovely and entirely too calorie-heavy dinner at the wonderful [ONE] restaurant, a group of us headed to the theater to check out Black Swan. The buzz surrounding this one is amazing, so we wanted to see if it deserved all that praise.

It does--but don't go without understanding what you're getting into. Sarah summarized the experience as like being punched in the face for two hours, and that's a fair assessment. The intensity never lifts, and the descent into madness is terrifying and believable.

Natalie Portman is simply brilliant. If she doesn't win the Best Actress Oscar going away, there is no justice. I haven't seen another performance in a 2010 film that even came close to hers.

Everything about the movie works. All the performances, the direction, the script--you name it, and it was strong, very strong.

Just understand that you'll be signing up to watch the disintegration of a person, and that is very hard to do.

I don't regret going, and if you're up for the film's subject matter, I can't recommend it highly enough, but I doubt I'll buy the DVD or watch it again. I just don't know that I want to take that pain again.