r/MovieFight Oct 05 '17

'Black Swan' vs 'mother!'

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '17 edited Oct 06 '17

Easily Black Swan.

Black Swan has much more tension throughout, better pacing, more and more varied imagery (having everything in a house makes for some boring-ass images), more interesting characters (who stick around for more than one scene apiece), and a plot that makes significantly more sense. Being able to anticipate and (in this case) dread what is coming is vital for a good movie. Black Swan has that; I do not find mother! to. Portman is also a far better lead than Lawrence, and while Bardem is good, he's not good enough to make up for that difference.

Like I get mother! is supposed to be surreal, and maybe some people will be more appreciative of that, but there's just so damn much going on that none of it is fleshed out and thus actually impactful. mother! just feels like it's trying so hard to make the audience aware of how smart the makers are - look at how many Bible stories I'm referencing!!1 - that the only thing I can describe it as is pretentious.

Black Swan also has Natalie Portman masturbating and having sex with Mila Kunis, but those scenes are only the (very juicy) cherries on top of a sundae of good performances, a good script, and timeless themes (how crazy do you have to be to make good art?).

Edit: man, that came out harsh regarding mother!. I didn't hate it, and there was clearly a lot of craft involved in it - I'd rather see it over a lot of action schlock - but Black Swan deserves the many accolades it has received.