Screw Ebert and Phillips and Dargis. The most important review thus far has finally arrived, for Rachel has seen Black Swan. Hopefully she doesn’t mind me posting these thoughts that she herself posted in the forum.

I just have to gush. I don’t really know what to say about Black Swan that hasn’t already been said. Natalie was flawless. In my opinion, this was her best role and performance since Leon. She completely embodied her character. Her performance in the final act of the film looked so effortless and kind of blew me away. The whole cast was fantastic, actually.

I am perplexed by that article from earlier about women disliking Natalie’s character at the initial screenings. I found Nina not only sympathetic (despite all of her flaws), but disturbingly relatable. Also, the audience I was with was predominantly female and the women around me had only positive things to say after the movie was over. (The theatre was PACKED, btw, and all of the shows were selling out very quickly. I’m glad I got there early! Like Jen, I’m still confused as to why this was given such an exclusive release.)

My only gripe about Black Swan is that it was too short! I wasn’t expecting it to be so quickly paced and would have liked to see a little bit more characterization. I also really wish I had not viewed all of the clips released and spoiled myself so much. It ruined the experience quite a bit. But I definitely want to go see this again when it’s (ever) released in my region. I need a repeat to absorb all the details I missed the first time around.