BLACK SWAN
This was actually my second viewing of this, as I first saw it the week it came out, and then saw it again last night at my local Arthouse cinema, and for me it held up just as well on the second viewing. Its a career best performance from Portman who not only impressed me the way she balked up and looked the part, but how she carried the emotion and anxiety of the character all the way through. The master stroke of the film is that on the one hand it does present a very realistic and troubling view of the extreme pressures placed on performers in the Ballet World, but at the sametime has turned it into a full on genre piece nodding to directors such as Dario Argento, David Lynch and Maro Bava. It is very scary and tense, as well as being finely crafted with great special effects make-up, and apart from Portman has a strong supporting cast. There is unlikely to be a better film released at the cinema this year IMO.
9/10
Confessions (KOKUHAKU)
This was the Japanese entry for Best Foreign film at this years Oscar's, it did not make the short list. It is not too often I agree with The Academy's decission's but I think they got this one right. This hard hitting black comedy set in a high school started off quite promising, but very soon loses its way. It attempts to take after films like Gus Van Saints Elephant or Battle Royale, but just ends up ripping them off. It is way too punderous, self-indultgent and lacking in depth, and just doesn't bring enough new to the subject. In the end it can't make up its mind weather it wants to be a satire or more of a gripping thriller, and ends up as being a bit of a boring mess. It does have its moments, it is stylish and quite haunting in places, the ending I did find to be powerful, but really much ado about nothing.
5.5/10