Black Swan (2010)

Hands down, the best movie of 2010. Darren Aronofsky has made another masterful movie and continues to just overwhelm the audience with his rich character development and outstanding storytelling.

Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) is a career ballerina at a nameless, yet famed ballet. She has been working very hard and a very long time, but has always been just a backup dancer. When the director announces that "Swan Lake" will be the next program, Nina wants that lead role. The director decides to go against tradition and make one dance play both the black and white swan. When Nina gets the lead, she starts obsessing about every little move she makes. It doesn't help that the company has just hired dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis), who looks a lot like Nina. It's driving her mad. The director is trying to get her open up and get looser in performance. Lily is also trying to get her to unwind a bit. Her mother switches between overbearing to nurturing to psycho very quickly and sporadically. With all that going on in her life, something has to give in Nina's world. Or, will it all go by the wayside and her life will turn into a disaster.

Just terrific. Natalie Portman will win the Oscar. If she doesn't, it's a crime. Her descent into madness and obsession is amazing. The audience has no idea what is going on in her head and neither does her character. Mila Kunis and Barbara Hershey were also great in the movie and could have easily been thrown into the Oscar race. This was just my type of movie all-around. A bit of a thriller that messes with your mind. Awesome. Grade: A+