Black Swan – Buns Are Cool
By Roz Young January 11, 2011
I know you are desperate to hear about my thoughts on Natalie Portman’s new movie Black Swan. But first, some updates from Roz. I wrote a blog before Christmas and mistakenly said something like “If one more bad thing happens I’ll rock back and forth in the corner”. Or something else stupid, and anyways, since then it’s been one thing after the other. However, like (or unlike) Joaquin Phoenix, I’m still here. And mostly, people are fine. Two sisters and some hospital stays (and unstays) later, I have survived into 2011. I’m terrified that if I yell out to the universe “Bring it on!” it will be brought, when hitherto this moment it hasn’t even begun to be brung. That’s not a word, I know, but I totally lost where that was going and panicked.
To make matters worse, How I Met Your Mother Spoiler Alert, my favourite character on the show (played by my imaginary boy friend Jason Segel) is going through the same thing as me!! Seriously, couldn’t it have been Ted’s dad? Or Robin’s? No, it had to be my beloved Marshall’s dad who dies of a heart attack. And now Matt has to watch this week’s episode first for me and let me know if I can handle it. It might be too much. Just when I was starting to get back into a routine, one that doesn’t include phoning my dad to hear about his stupid physics idea for the day or the black hole he thinks he could build in the basement, I hear Marshall cry out, “I’m not ready for this.” Amen brother.
So, back to Matt’s imaginary girl Friday, Natalie Portman. The movie Black Swan is making Matt’s list of movies-about-things-that-should-be-boring-but-are-actually-really-interesting, along with such good company as the Social Network and 127 Hours. Ballet. Yep, sounds like a snooze fest. But girls who go crazy and make out? That has tantalizing written all over it.
I walked in to Black Swan a few weeks behind everyone else, and I’d heard that it was weird. Having watched it, I feel that it was just the right amount of strange and fantastic without being nonsensical or too bizarre. Yet again, we watch some crazy shit sometimes, so I’m a terrible judge of violence or weirdness. Natalie Portman is excellent in this movie, gorgeous, elegant, terrifying. I love the sad and beautiful story of the swan queen, and the character’s unreliable mind. Some truly amazing scenes and excellent acting all around, I applaud you Black Swan! Plus, I love that NP is knocked up. Adorable.
Walking out of the movie theatre, I felt very sad for ballerinas. They have a demanding road to travel, it’s hard on their bodies and so stressful trying to make it big at a young age. By the time they are my age, most of them are too old to continue working or at the very least have to slow down because it’s too physically and mentally exhausting. That’s like most athletes. In science, most people are only just getting going in their 30s. It’s hard to imagine being where I am today and having already packed a whole lifetime of a career into my youth. Plus, I like my toenails where they are. I do like the fashionable hair-in-a-bun they sport however... Buns are cool.