Black Swan

The penultimate horror film in Have You Ever Seen's 10th Annual Scary Movie Month was a blockbuster and an Oscar-winner. And that's unusual for the relentless and unsubtle director Darren Aronofsky. He isn't often rewarded so much for the chances he takes. This 693rd episode talks about how the intense Black Swan is women-centric, even as the women in it go through hell. Natalie Portman won Best Actress for playing a lonely ballet dancer who was deluded even before the movie started. Then after she gets the lead role in Swan Lake, she shows us levels of masochism, obsession and deep mental illness. Real versus imagined. Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey and Vincent Cassell hit some home runs too, with Hersey eating it up as Portman's possessive and abusive mother. So put on your feathers and get ready for an episode all about the sordid and dangerous world of ballet. Well, Actually: Mother! wasn't a complete failure at the box office and Noah didn't do THAT badly worldwide. Be a sweet girl (or a sweet boy) and write a review of this or any other HYES episode. Rate it too (5 stars!). And subscribe to the show. The email address is "[email protected]". The socials are "@moviefiend51" on the T and "ryan-ellis" on the B. If you spend time on Letterboxd, look for me as "RyanHYES". I tend to focus on modern movies (contrasting the M-O of this podcast) and will probably do a lot more reviewing there in mid-November and beyond.