The 68th annual Golden Globe Awards will air January 16th on CBS. The intense psychological thriller, ‘Black Swan’ received 4 Golden Globe nominations including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (Natalie Portman), Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Mila Kunis) and Best Director – Motion Picture, Darren Aronofsky.
The critics agree. Portman has already swept the Best Actress award for her ‘Black Swan’ portrayal of mentally tormented ballerina Nina Sayers from the Austin Film Critics, Boston Society of Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics, Houston Film Critics and more. She was also nominated by several critics, including Detroit Film Critics and Toronto Film Critics. Co-star Mila Kunis won the Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal of Lily from the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle and also received the Venice Film Festival Best Young Actress Award. Both Portman and Kunis are also nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
The film won 5 awards from the Austin Film Critics: Best Picture, Best Director – Darren Aronofsky, Best Lead Actress -Natalie Portman, Best Screenplay – Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin, and Best Cinematography Matthew Libatique. ‘Black Swan’ also made the list of AFI’s Top 10 Movies of the Year.
According to the film’s production notes on ‘Black Swan’s’ Official website, ‘The daring and original director Darren Aronofsky (‘The Wrestler’, ‘The Fountain’, ‘Requiem for a Dream’) lures audiences into a haunting, fractured world of delusions, doubles and paranoia in ‘Black Swan’, his first psychological thriller. He spins a sensual and chilling tale of a prima ballerina locked in an obsessive battle with dark impulses that slowly engulf her.’
The person sitting next to me grimaced and flinched several times at some of the dark and disturbing scenes in the film, which spoke to Portman’s ability to pull the audience into Nina’s sick and twisted psyche. At the end of the film, the entire NCG audience sat silently for a few moments before getting up from their seats. One Flint resident said, ‘Wow. Talk about dark and twisted – what a psychological thriller.’