Although Natalie Portman may be the first name that comes to mind when Black Swan is mentioned, the visionary behind this maniacal yet eloquent dance of a movie is director Darren Aronofsky. Still a young director with only five completed feature films to boast of, Aronofsky has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on the buzzworthy film. Even though he only has been in the film industry for about 14 years, Aronofsky has blown away audiences with his skill and finesse in filmmaking and has rightfully received praise for his work.
Aronofsky's first feature film was a low-budget, indie project called ?, which earned Aronofsky the Best Director award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival where it premiered. ? received praise from critics and audiences alike, despite its limited showing. As screenwriter as well as director, Aronofsky awed the cinema world with his ruminations on the ? motif as a major driving force in the plot, as the protagonist discovers that this number transcends religion, nature and the stock market. To complement his themes of mathematical starkness and personal agency, he made striking use of high-contrast black-and-white film. Riding off the success of ?, Aronofsky went on to direct his breakthrough film, Requiem for a Dream. Using innovative and unorthodox cinematic styles such as split-screens and extreme close-ups, Requiem for a Dream put Aronofsky on the Hollywood shortlist of rising directors.
The success of Requiem, however, was tempered by the lukewarm response to his 2006 film, The Fountain, which lacked any real focus. Re-emerging from his lull, Aronofsky drew back the curtain to the world of professional wrestling and reintroduced the world to Mickey Rourke in his gritty and down-to-earth film, The Wrestler. A true success, The Wrestler was hailed as Aronofsky's masterpiece and received a wealth of praise. Aronofsky failed to be recognized by the Academy, however, in what was arguably an egregious overlook.
And then there was Black Swan. Like Swan Lake, the ballet the movie revolves around, Black Swan mellifluously dances to an epic and resounding climax. Aronofsky melds together a diverse set of elements such as graphic horror, ballet, film noir and psychological trauma to effectively bring the cinematic medium to a new height of expression. For Aronofsky not to receive the Oscar would be rather unfortunate. Taking the clashing motifs of fantasy and reality, Aronofsky creates a thrilling pace for this physiological adrenaline rush of a film. It is undeniable that Aronofsky has produced an indelible piece of art that will be enjoyed by movie lovers for years to come.
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