The only word I can use to sum up Darren Aronofsky’s latest flick is intense. Really intense. Aronofsky (Requiem for A Dream, The Wrestler) makes another strange movie with his newest creation “Black Swan”. The movie stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a ballet dancer who is chosen as the lead for the upcoming production of Swan Lake. The role starts to make her very unstable as she faces the pressure of the job and a strange new relationship with a rival dancer (Mila Kunis) with unknown intentions. The film shows the world through her eyes and all of the terrifying tricks her mind begins to play on her.

Most will come in thinking this movie is a chick-flick and you could not be further from the truth. The film is very sexual and disturbing as you witness this woman’s change in personality and sanity. Nina strives to be perfect and as she continues throughout, her mind begins to unravel and she starts to hallucinate very strange and disturbing things that will make you question whether a scene actually happened or if it’s just another hallucination.

Aronofsky shows a creepy evolution of the character Nina, which Natalie Portman helps out with an award worthy performance. The whole cast stood out including Kunis who put in a very surprisingly good effort, but Portman went so far away from her usual self and really shined; Portman easily put in the best performance of her career and the year.

Black Swan came surprisingly close to being a horror film as the last 25 minutes was just mind-blowingly creepy. It did have a lot of jump scares which is usually a bad thing but this comes more from the type of film it is rather than just being eerily silent; your caught off guard as it shift from dreams to reality. Unfortunately the film does hurt itself by shifting in and out of reality as the viewer will most likely have no idea of what’s going on most of the time.

Black Swan is one of, if not the best, films of the year. Aronofsky clearly has a very unique style of directing that works really well for him, but the thing that made this movie a must see film is a perfect trailer, because it very much captures how much the film catches you off guard and really made me want to see the movie. Another great film to wrap up 2010, another one you have to see.