Review 2

Black Swan(2010)

Director - Darren Aronofsky

Producer - Ari Handel, Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Brian Oliver

Screenwriters - Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin

Composer - Clint Mansell
Genre - Drama / Thriller
Release Year - 2010
Country - US
Run Time - 180 minutes
MPAA Rating - R

Lead actors

Natalie Portman as Nina Sayers/The Swan Queen
Mila Kunis as Lily/The Black Swan
Vincent Cassel as Thomas Leroy/The Gentleman
Barbara Hershey as Erica Sayers/The Queen
Winona Ryder as Beth MacIntyre/The Dying Swan
Benjamin Millepied as David Moreau/The Prince
Ksenia Solo as Veronica/Little Swan
Kristina Anapau as Galina/Little Swan
Janet Montgomery as Madeline/Little Swan
Sebastian Stan as Andrew/Suitor
Toby Hemingway as Tom/Suitor

Plot

Black Swan follows the story of Nina, a ballerina in a New York City ballet company whose life, like all those in her profession, was completely consumed with dance. She lived with her mother Erica, a retired ballerina, who zealously supported her daughter's professional ambition. When artistic director Thomas Leroy  decided to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina was his first choice. But Nina had competition: a new dancer- Lily, who impresseed Leroy as well. Swan Lake requireed a dancer who could play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represented guile and sensuality. Nina fitted the White Swan role perfectly but Lily was the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expanded their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina began to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatened to destroy her.

Direction

I saw first work of Darren Aronofsky watching Requiem for a Dream(2000). The film depicts different forms of addiction, leading to the characters’ imprisonment in a world of delusion and reckless desperation that is subsequently overtaken by reality. After I began to associated this director with a quality films, about hard stages and sides of people's life. And his next work I was really impressed by was The Wrestler (2008) starring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei. This tender, gripping and altogether remarkable film instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances. And I think it's a result of a huge role of Darren Aronofsky as a director and producer. In Black Swan we can see an outstanding talent of the man. Darren Aronofsky first became interested in ballet when his sister studied dance at the High School of Performing Arts in New York City. The basic idea for the film started when he hired screenwriters to rework a screenplay called The Understudy, which was about off-Broadway actors and explored the notion of being haunted by a double. Aronofsky said the screenplay had elements of All About Eve, Roman Polanski's The Tenant, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novella The Double. The director had also seen numerous productions of Swan Lake, and he connected the duality of the White Swan and the Black Swan to the script. When researching for the production of Black Swan, Aronofsky found ballet to be "a very insular world" whose dancers were "not impressed by movies". Regardless, the director found active and inactive dancers to share their experiences with him. He also stood backstage to see the Bolshoi Ballet perform at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Costume Design

Nominated for Best Costume Design for the 2011 Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Kate and Laura Mulleavy designed the costumes for both the Swan Lake ballet in Black Swan, as well as other pieces worn by Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis in the film. The Rodarte credit for the film reads Ballet Costumes Designed by Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte as they designed the Swan Lake ballet within the film and key costumes worn by Natalie Portman, including her white gown, white scarf, and grey practice tutu.

Background Music

Clint Mansell, a musician and composer, deserves the seperate words. He wrote the score for most Aronofsky's films including Black Swan. Clint Mansell and Darren Aronofsky is a perfect duet, the composer could convey the soul of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet.

About the movie Black Swan, I'm sure, many people have heard . This film was at the hearing in 2010. It is such picture that attracts us with its beauty, elegance, even a danger and temptation. The picture can scare away truthfulness and mysticism. BUT nevertheless you can't break away even for a second during watching it! “Still waters run deep", in my opinion, is perfect slogan for Black Swan. The plot of the film is amazing, after all, we are shown a consequence of one of the great desires of a man - opening of his second opposite side. The heroine was looking for her "alter ego" - Nina tried to stand in a new way, but she went too far in the attempts. The symbol of this evil "alter ego" was another ballerina - Lily, a demon, rival. She didn't just attend at the life of Nina, as an antipode, moreover she gradually survived the young woman out of her own consciousness. I can say that you begin to go crazy with Nina by the end of the film. Well, the movie keeps in suspense not worse than any other thriller, keeps to look for the edge between reality and madness, passion and lust, modesty and ambition, love and detestation, friendship and competition. What Natalie Portman did with her role  - this is something impossible. She played Nina Sayers fabulously. So,it is very difficult to describe, you need to see Black Swan!

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The article Choreographer Gillian Lynne says 'Reality TV is harming the theatre' written by Vanessa Thorpe was published in The Guardian on March,24. It discusses the a growing threat to musical theatre from television with Gillian Lynne.

She is a choreographer of Cats, The Phantom of The Opera and Aspects of Love, will receive an Olivier award for lifetime achievement next month. The woman says that  television, especially reality TV, is a danger because producers drop someone into a role who has been on television, moreover they want instant fame. Recently, the Wizard of Oz, Chicago and Oliver! have all been promoted by using cast members known to TV audiences first, but it is a trend she decries.

There is a lot of comment on Lynne's personal life and some other facts of her biography. At 87, Lynne is the most successful choreographer of several generations. The Olivier award will celebrate her contribution to theatre and a career she believes has been built ona commitment to her art and a dislike of shortcuts. Lynne worked most recently on the West End show Dear World, but her life in dance started in London's East End at the age of 16. Later, she danced with Sadler's Wells Ballet and at Covent Garden, before turning to acting, choreography and directing. Her story has also become familiar since educationist Sir Ken Robinson used Lynne as an example in a talk given initially as part of a TED event, which has been downloaded more than 15m times. Lynne danced the Black Queen in Checkmate, among other leading roles, at the Royal Opera House, where Dame Ninette de Valois picked her out as a rebel. Eventually, Lynne left Covent Garden, returning much later to choreograph and dance in opera interludes. In recent years, she has complained that the Royal Ballet has let its dancers forget the sensuality of dance.

The article draws a conclusion that Lynne's Olivier award means she joins an elite list of previous recipients. The ceremony in London will crown a career in which she has danced with both Frederick Ashton and Fred Astaire.

As for me, I was really impressed her playing in Cats, she is a great dancer of modern ballet. Jillian Lynne has a huge number of nominations and awards, and I hope her Olivier award isn't the last one.

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The article See the Play, Don’t Miss the Program written by David Belcher was published in The New Your Times on March, 26. It reports at length that the printed theater program for a performance is an important thing and not only for advertising. A London theater program is often a quick study guide.

The article discusses the distinguishing feature of a program in the capital of the UK'S theatres. In London most programs are all about the play you’re about to see. Granted, they cost anywhere from £2.50 to £4, or $3.80 to $6, but it’s an investment, not just a souvenir. The takeaway is a deeper understanding not just of the play but of some of Britain’s history, politics and culture.

There is a lot of comment on examples of different programms. The National Theatre’s production of James Graham’s “This House,” set in 1974, amid gridlock in Parliament as the Labor and the Tory whips battle for control amid an energy crisis, high inflation and record unemployment. It’s a dense, rapid-pace dissection of an era, and the program contains no less than three full-length articles of exposition, a glossary of political terms and a list of the members of Parliament who speak, if only for a few seconds.

Then the author tells about the West End revival of Harold Pinter’s 1971 masterwork “Old Times” that has garnered attention for the clever way that the actresses Kristin Scott Thomas and Lia Williams are alternating the roles of Kate and Anna. Pinter’s memory play about a love triangle is dense with ambiguity, and the £4 program contains articles that guide viewers through 70 loaded minutes of Pinterese.

Speaking of the most well-known theatre in London, Shakespeare's Globe, where the program costs £4 and a floor ticket only £5, equal the cost of a movie in the West End, the printed programs also are specific to each play. There are three or four articles on Elizabethan England, as well as the history of the Globe and life in the theater in Shakespearean England.

It's an open secret that the National Theatre’s imposing, in The Shed, brick-red temporary theater that opens shortly while the Cottlesoe goes through a yearlong renovation. There programs for the series of experimental plays will cost £1, in keeping with The Shed’s minimalist concept — and its attempt to lure younger audiences to the theater. Even performers’ credits are refreshing. The National Theatre uses rehearsal shots instead of posed head shots for its performers.

The article draws a conclusion that in the UK where serial dramas and plays are still performed regularly on the radio, and most performers in the London theater have radio credits, it’s another example of how a theater program reflects its society.

In my opinion, British theatre is a unique structure that differents from any other theatre's organization in the world. British are very proud of their traditions and customs and tried to rise above. Well, a theatre programm is a good example of it - designers and playwriters give it important role as well as directors give attention to actors and composers.

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The article Love Never Dies back to the West End written by Matt Trueman was published in The Guardian on March 19, 2013. It reports at length that famous Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel Love Never Dies was set to return for a UK tour after successful Australian staging.

At the beginning the author says that its London premiere was widely judged to be a flop. And the other day the composer let slip that a revival was in the works, due "later this year or early next". That prompted David Ian and Michael Harrison, producers of the West End production of The Bodyguard, to announce that they would be taking the musical. It is interesting to note that, according to Playbill.com, the pair are in the process of booking a 75 to 80-week run around Britain with an eye towards a West End return should it prove a success.

There is a lot of comment on the other facts of the new project. It would be based on the Simon Phillips's Australian staging, which premiered in Melbourne in May 2011, shortly before the show closed in London after 15 months. The original had a tricky run, struggling to shake off a handful of negative reviews – including famously being dubbed Paint Never Dries by theatre bloggers the West End Whingers – and closed for a short period of revisions.

It's necessary to emphasize that in Australia, Phillips's production went three better, scooping up 10 nominations at the Helpmann awards and winning three. And moreover it was subsequently filmed for DVD.

The article concludes by saying that its success was the result of having had "very little involvement from Webber ". He also revealed that his latest musical, based on the Profumo scandal, is now ready for production.

In my point of view, Andrew Lloyd Webber is an outstanding impresario of musical theatre. His famous shows are Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats , The Phantom of the Opera, Whistle Down the Wind, The Woman in White, The Wizard of Oz and many others. I watched DVD version of Love Never Dies with Ramin Karimloo stared as Phantom and I can say that after The Phantom of the Opera the first musical isn't so successful, but if you are fond of Christine Daae's story you appreciate the sequel at its true value.

Individual Reading 6. Chapter 43-58

The narrator tried to analyze what he had written about Charles Strickland. The young man couldn't understand everuhing the artist did, thought, felt and captured because in his opinion, there was a lack of facts and details about painter's life. For Strickland art was a manifestation of the sexual instinct; he was cruel, selfish, brutal and sensual. But Charles had a vision, and he was a great artist. Years later the young man went to Tahite, the last place where Strickland lived, and where the narrator met his friend, Captain Nichols. The latter told about the artist from his point of view, differented from the facts we knew about Charles. Then the young man was introduced to other people the painter dealed with. And they told their own stories about Strickland. Well, Sharles Strickland spent last years near Papeete, he was married and hed children. The man died of leprosy but before the death he reached the peak of his art. The walls of his house in Tahite imaged something extraordinary - from floor to ceiling it was covered with an elaborate composition, mysterious and wonderful. It was the work of a man who had delved into the hidden secrets; a man who knew  things which it was unholy for people to know. After the death of the artist his pictures became relevant for art, and everyone desired to have one of them or something else. Well, everybody wanted to touch his maiden, pure works to see thegreat art.

Individual Reading 5. Chapter 35-42

One morning Dirk entered the young man's house quickly and said that Blanche had tried to kill herself. The man was really dispirited and the narrator was shoked. The woman had taken poison after a quarelle with Strickland, and then she died at the hospital. The circumstances of Blanche's death necessitated all manner of dreadful formalities, but at last the men were allowed to bury her. After the funeral, Dirk went to his friend and he told him he had made up the mind to go away to Holland. Before leaving Stroeve told about how he decided to be an artist. It happened that he had a knack for drawing at school, at then his mother gave him a box of water-colours as a present. His parents sent him to Amsterdam to try for a scholarship, and he won it. At the end of his story he added that art was the greatest thing in the world. Also Dirk told about his meeting with Strickland. He hadn't been in his studio, he came in and found nothing was changed except a picture which Strickland left. There the nacked Blanche was captured. Stroeve described it as a great, wonderful work of art, he was seized with awe, he couldn't touch it. The man met Charles and asked to come with him to Holland, but the latter only said he had other fish to fry and gave Dirk the picture. Next mounth, the narrator met Strickland who came along with him. At the young man's house they were talking about Blanche and her death, about pictures, and Charles said that she had a perfect body, but he only wanted to paint a hude, and when he finished his picture he took no more interest in her - so, he never loved the woman. Actually, Strickland didn't want love, called it weakness, but sometimes he want a woman, that's all. Then Charles showed the narrator his pictures. The latter was taken aback by what seemed to him clumsiness of his techhique, he knew nothing of the simplification at which he aimed - a still-life of oranges on a plate were not round and lop-sided, and faces looked like caricatures. Well, the man didn't understand what the artist felt or wanted to say and convey. A week later Strickland went to Marseilles, and the narrator never saw him again.

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The article Russian police arrest man over acid attack on Bolshoi director Sergei Filin written by Shaun Walker was published in The Independent on March, 5. It reports at length that Russian police arrested a suspect in the acid attack that nearly blinded the artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre - Mr Filin.

The author says that the offender was detained before dawn in the small town of Stupino, Moscow Region, and is thought by police to have thrown the acid at 42-year-old Sergei Filin. But the person who ordered the assault is still at large.

Speaking of the complainant it is necessary to note that he is currently undergoing treatment in Germany to mitigate the consequences of the attack on 17 January.  After surgical intervention, Russian doctors were able to salvage Mr Filin’s sight, and he is now receiving further treatment for his sight and facial burns. He has said he hopes to return to work as soon as possible and is still speaking to his dancers by telephone and Skype.

It's an open secret that the atmosphere in the Bolshoi theatre is strained. A previous leader of the ballet troupe had to resign after pornographic photographs of him were disseminated online, while the theatre’s costly renovation programme has been plagued with allegations of corruption and incompetence. Russian media has played up a dispute between Mr Filin and Nikolai Tsiskaridze who has been engaged in a long-running dispute with the Bolshoi management, criticising the theatre publicly and repeatedly and effectively being banned from dancing.

The article carries a lot of comment on the police actions. Having questioned the majority of the employees and administrators of the theatre during their investigation into the acid attack, police returned to the Bolshoi this morning to conduct further searches. A raid was also carried out on a Moscow address belonging to relatives of the man arrested, according to the police source. A police source told that the person arrested this morning was not a member of the Bolshoi’s troupe, however added that a number of employees and dancers at the theatre were still being investigated by officers.

The article draws a conclusion that ballet performances at the theatre have continued despite the attack on Mr Filin.

Personnaly, I've never been in the theatre, but the last time I think everybody knows what is happening there, unfortunately more about intrigue on the stage than about its productions and performances. And I hope that the acid attack isn't just a newspaper hoax for somebody's reputation.

Individual Reading 4. Chapter 27-34

Two or three weeks passed, Strickland felt better, and the narrator went to the Louvre where he suddenly saw Stroeve. The latter seemed singularly disconsolate, and he told the young man that he suggested Strickland to occupy his studio thinking that both could paint, but Charles said him to get out. The narrator worried about this situation, but Stroeve asked to do nothing. A week later, Dick went to the young man - his clothes were in disorder, he looked suddenly bedraggled. He told that his wife decided to leave him, she fell in love with Strickland, and Stroeve packed his clothes up and left his house, where the wife abided with Charles. The narrator really understood the actions and motives of  Blanche Stroeve - she only thought that she loved her husband, and when the woman first saw Strickland - a big and strong man, his appearance was wild and uncouth, there was aloofness in his eyes and sensuality in his mouth - she loved him. But what the narrator couldn't understand was reaction of Dick who said his wife would return to him, and he just needed to wait. Once, the young man saw Charles and Blanche together in the cafe, they seemed not to change, moreover they behaved as nothing had happened. The meeting had been devoid of incidentand and finally the narrator couldn't tell how the couple were getting on. 

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The article A vanishing world, according to Andy Warhol: How the artist highlighted the plight of endangered animals written by Nick Clark was pulished in The Independent, March,1. It reports at length that such modern glamorous and well-known artist as Andy Warhol is interested in the future of Earth's environment and helps it through the art.

It's an open secret that Warhol's screenprints are more commonly associated with Hollywood glamour queens Marilyn Monroe and Liz Taylor. In his new work he uses the trademark style to highlight the issue of endangered animals, in a series set to go up for sale this month.

There is every reason to believe that the prints from new exhibition, which will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London later, are estimated to bring between £250,000 to £300,000. The complete set of 10 screenprints in the Endangered Species series Andy Warhol referred to as “animals in make-up,” include colourful prints of an African elephant, a bighorn ram, a San Francisco silverspot butterfly, a black rhinoceros, an orangutan and a Pine Barrens tree frog. The series were produced in 1983 but came out of Warhol’s concern over ecology after a conversation with his New York art dealers Freya and Ronald Feldman.

There is a lot of comment on that the auction house is currently selling off many of the artist’s works - in November, an auction at Christie’s in New York brought in more than $17m. It has also been auctioning off 125 works by the pop artist online.

The author says that The Sotheby’s auction will also feature a unique colour screenprint Self-Portrait as well as the Cambell’s Soup II series. It comprises 10 screenprints , which are expected to go for £150,000. Others include Shoes, a print with diamond dust, and three Sunset screenprints.

Throughout history, many species of animals have gradually disappeared from the Earth. Unfortunately, this process of extinction seems to be accelerating. Personally, I think this artist's project is a good investment of his money, time and efforts into not less good business - environmental problem.

Individual Reading 3. Chapter 16-25

Having learned that her husband would live separately in Paris without money but with a desire to become an artist, Mrs. Strickland as she was a strong woman, began to keep her own business, and 5 years later she already had the office in Chancery Lane and employed several girls. The narrator visited her to say that he decided to move in Paris after boring daily routine in London, and the woman told about her new life and asked the young man to send money for Charles. Having arrived in the capital of France the narrator visited his friend, a painter, Dirk Stroeve, who immediately informed him about great artist - Charles Strickland , and the men went to the cafe to meet him.

Charles Strickland changed - untrimmed beard, long hair, his body was cadaverous, and he wore the same suit he had had 5 years ago. When the small sum of money which he brought with him come to an end and he couldn't sale any his picture - he set about earning a bit of them. The man worked as a guide and as a translator and even as a house painter. But Charles Strickland suffered from no dismay, took money from the Stroeves and that's why Mrs. Stroeve hated him.

Before Christmas Strickland was seriously ill and Dick brought him to care about at his house.