From its acclaimed director to its salacious girl-on-girl kiss, Black Swan has been the buzz of Hollywood. Darren Aronofsky's ballet thriller made waves overseas Tuesday night, premiering at the Venice Film Festival and seemingly, the film is living up to its hype. Natalie Portman plays Nina, a virginal ballerina obsessed with dance and striving for perfection. Her world crashes in on her when Lily (Mila Kunis) is introduced to her ballet company. Variety calls Portman's performance “courageous," adding that she "lays bare the myriad insecurities genuinely dedicated performers face when testing their limits, revealing shades of the actress never before seen on film.” The Hollywood Reporter, however, was less impressed with Portman’s showing, saying: “You sense she has bravely ventured out of her comfort zone to play a character slowly losing sight of herself. It’s a bravura performance.” Still, on a whole, the bizarre, dark ballerina film, piqued the reviewer’s interest. The “instant guilty pleasure… is so damn out-there in every way that you can't help admiring Aronofsky for daring to be so very, very absurd.”
