The Disappointing "Black Swan"

This is the time of year when adult movies hit the theatres. Summer is for kids. December is for the older folks, like me, to dine on more advanced fare at the cinema.

An example of a supposedly adult movie is the psychological thriller "Black Swan", by the hugely talented director Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky is responsible for two of my favorite films of the last decade, "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Wrestler."

But his new release effort falls short of his prior work. David Denby in The New Yorker notes that the film "is a pompous, self-glorifying, and generally unpleasant interpretation of an artist's task", and I couldn't agree more. It may reveal my obtuseness, but I found all the characters unlikeable; folks that I did not want to spend two hours listening to and watching.

Natalie Portman, to echo Denby, is tortured throughout the film. She is, in real life, a nearly 30 year old woman who, in this movie, must act like a virginal, unhappy, and psychotic child/dancer. I didn't buy it. Barbara Hershey, looking frightening after too many visits to the plastic surgeon, is a hoot, the only one in the entire film. The rest of the cast does their part as unlikeable and disagreeable components in the slow death of the swan.

I did not enjoy this movie at all and am shocked that "Black Swan" is receiving such sterling reviews. What am I missing?