Black Swan

First things first this is a really good film. Its also very typically Aronofsky. In Pi my main complaint was his rather self-indulgent 'going crazy' scenes. Since Black Swan wholly consists of someone 'going crazy' its a good sign that I was still gripped. It did become rather tedious however that EVERYTHING was a hallucination or dream. He pulls the- 'it didn't actually happen trick' far too many times to the point that the last, and what should have been the most important, hallucination became obvious. 80% of the film didn't happen.

Aronofsky's most frequent criticism is that its simply exploiting the emotions of the audience. Images such as pulling skin from a finger is a clever one because its not overly grotesque (Requiem for a Dream) and everyone can relate and feel the pain. The question is whether or not if the image was isolated would it cause the same reaction? Or is it meticulous cinematic build up that makes it so disturbing?

Aronofsky's dark and dirty scenery is changed for the hyper polished and clean ballet studios and this is a breath of fresh air. Ballet studios are magnificently SHOWN in dark and dirty ways instead rather than the other way round. Just as he showed the sensitive side of a wrestler he shows the inner demon of a ballet dancer. Its good but not perfect.

Catfish

Documentaires are difficult to review because in terms of story there is not way to review it, and in terms of editing the footage acquired could have been limited. However, Catfish incredibly manages to stumble upon an incredibly poignant commentary of our time. Contrary to its falsely advertised 'Blair Witch-esque' horror documentary I felt nothing but admiration for the protagonist and sympathy for the supposed antagonist.

Stylistically the theme of virtual reality vs. actual reality is implemented perfectly. The exploded pixels at the start are such a nice touch reminding us of the fact EVERYTHING in the virtual reality we have created for ourselves IS fake; a collection of intangible, floating data that is easily manipulated. There is also a very nice contrast between the beauty but also sterility and superficiality of the virtual world of Facebook and the gritty, grimy shitness of the world we live in.

The film is documented using pointers such as google maps/sat-nav/iPhone maps/Facebook and it all goes to show to what extent virtual reality has integrated itself into our lives. It documents itself with the very thing its criticising (or however you want to interpret it) and that is a beautiful contradiction.