On March 18th, Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special hits theaters. The film, which follows a boy with supernatural abilities getting hunted down by various groups eager to study or exploit him, is a major departure from the rest of Nichols’ filmography. With Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, and Mud, Nichols showed an interest in small, modest-scaled dramas about internal (Take Shelter) and external (Shotgun Stories) battles in the Southern United States. Now, Nichols has elevated himself to a different, bigger stage: Midnight Special is a full-on, big-budget (compared to his earlier films, that is) sci-fi that has already received comparisons to Steven Spielberg’s work.

Nichols is far from the first director to make a film outside their perceived wheelhouse, and in anticipation of Midnight Special’s release, we decided to come up with our favorite examples of directors who made a successful shift into new, exciting territory. Read our eleven picks below, and let us know if you agree, disagree, or think we’re missing any directors who deserve to be on this list.

Favorite Directorial Left Turns

Babe: Pig in the City (George Miller)

Although respectable, George Miller’s post-Mad Max fare—such as The Witches of Eastwick and Lorenzo’s Oil—hardly built on the promise of his influential post-apocalyptic trilogy. In the mid-nineties, Miller’s career took an abrupt change of direction, co-writing and producing the surprise Best Picture nominee Babe (losing out to the far inferior Braveheart). The talking pig was a huge success, and a few years later Miller directed the sequel.

Babe: Pig in the City is far darker in tone than the cozy, bucolic original. Miller pulls out all the stops, creating a trippy atmosphere for his menagerie of chatty creatures, including mice, chimps, pelicans and Mickey Rooney. Ostensibly a family film, it has the bug-eyed intensity of his Nightmare at 20,000 Feet segment in Twilight Zone: The Movie and the baroque imagination of Mad Max: Fury Road. Miller’s lengthy excursion into family film continued with the hit Happy Feet and its sequel, featuring CGI dancing penguins. And just when the scorched landscape of “Mad” Max Rockatansky seemed a distant memory, Miller took another turn onto Fury Road. [Lee]

Bernie (Richard Linklater)

Richard Linklater has always been partial to his home state of Texas, but in his 2011 flick, Bernie, Linklater embraced the east Texas legend of Marjorie “Marge” Nugent’s murder. Linklater’s career is marked with a variety of genres from relatable dramas such as Boyhood and the Before Trilogy to airy comedies like Dazed and Confused, but Bernie served as his only venture into a crime-driven black comedy. Yet, Linklater’s expertise in the understanding of the human condition is manifested in his sympathetic portrayal of Bernie and the often insufferable Marge. Bernie combines many of the elements that make Linklater’s films so beloved, but the presentation is wildly unique. The film combines mockumentary with documentary and comedy with drama in a way that is coherent and captivating. And while Bernie stands out from the rest of Linklater’s work, the quirks present in Bernie are exaggerations of quirks from the rest of Linklater’s filmography, and that is what makes the film such a treat. It’s a departure from the Linklater status quo, but it also represents an artistic evolution and a love letter to rural Texas. [Tanner]

The Big Short (Adam McKay)

The ’60s had the Rat Pack, the ’80s had the Brat Pack, and the ’00s have the Frat Pack, with the likes of Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell in its ranks. One of the key architects of the Frat Pack oeuvre is Adam McKay, writer/director of the Anchorman films, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and The Other Guys. You see the pattern. Going off this previous directorial resume, McKay’s doesn’t suggest very much depth. But with his latest effort, The Big Short, he detours from the usual big-laughs-from-little-substance path and takes on material as dense as one can get for a major motion picture: the bursting of the US housing market bubble, and subsequent global economic crisis, that occurred in the mid-2000s. It’s dry, complicated stuff that is plagued by its own jargon-riddled language. McKay (who also co-wrote) presents his smartest humor to date, but also makes the material easy to understand, keeping the film moving at a brisk pace and making brilliant creative decisions—such as fourth wall-breaking and pop-up tutorials conducted by surprise celebrity cameos. The Big Short earned the accolades it received during awards season, and McKay has earned a spot on the list of directors to pay attention to for more than just silly comedies. [Michael]

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Alfonso Cuarón)

Alfonso Cuarón wasn’t necessarily a stranger to children’s film when he took on the third Harry Potter franchise film, nor to Warner Brothers. He’d directed 1995’s A Little Princess, also a darker toned tale of a child orphan making their way in the world. So while Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban may not have felt like a left turn for him, for those who think of Y Tu Mamá También when they hear his name, the jump from a horny coming-of-age road trip film to a beloved magical series was jolting. But it isn’t really if one thinks about it. Picking up where Chris Columbus left off in the first two films, Cuarón picked the perfect film of the series to take on. This is where Harry’s journey gets remarkably dark, with his family’s past and secrets he was formerly too young to grasp finally get revealed. He has to choose to face the threats that heretofore came looking for him, AND turn 13. Scary stuff. Cuarón gave the film much needed relevancy, having characters wear modern clothing and letting them interact more with the non-magical world. He gave the Harry Potter series the backbone it lacked and a magic that felt more enticing, simultaneously pleasing book fans and pulling in those who’d previously written the series off as kid stuff. Cuarón knows how to get hearts pumping (Gravity) and feelings flowing (Children of Men), and his approach was a huge success for what is now among the top five film franchises in history. [Ananda]

Hugo (Martin Scorsese)

Roger Ebert opened his review of Martin Scorsese’s 2011 film with the line, “Hugo is unlike any other film Martin Scorsese has ever made.” As a director who’s known for his gritty gangster films (Goodfellas, The Departed, Gangs of New York), Scorsese threw a curveball at audiences by making a big-budget family film. In his extensive filmography, the director has only made a handful of PG-rated films, and none (that I can recall) featuring young children as lead characters. But the main reason why Hugo marked such a huge departure for Scorsese was that it was filmed in 3D, a medium often thought to be gimmicky, especially for a filmmaker who is such a strong advocate for preserving traditional film. But it’s easy to see why he made Hugo considering it’s a love letter to cinema, featuring storylines involving early pioneers of film like Georges Melies and the Lumiere brothers. Scorsese shows how those directors experimented with special effects during the early years of film, and it suddenly dawns on you why he decided to make Hugo in 3D. And to top it off, he adds a great message about the importance of preserving film. It’s rare that a filmmaker can make a film like this; one that’s so close to their heart, so much different than their previous work, and yet be easily accessible to every age group. Hugo is that film. [Dustin]

Li’l Quinquin (Bruno Dumont)

Early on in his career, Bruno Dumont was labelled as an enfant terrible for several reasons: showing unsimulated sex scenes in his films, using sudden, brutal violence, a rigid form that can drive people mad or put them to sleep, and an ability to generate provocative questions about hot button issues like religion and spirituality. Since 2011, after his underrated Hors Satan flopped with critics and audiences, he underwent a bit of a change. His follow-up, Camille Claudel 1915, starred Juliette Binoche, a surprise given his preference to work with unprofessional actors. But it wasn’t until 2014 that Dumont would make his biggest shift yet with Li’l Quinquin, a TV miniseries about detectives trying to find a serial killer in the French countryside. The series marks Dumont’s first attempt at making an outright comedy, and it works like gangbusters (some sequences in here are so unhinged it’s impossible not to choke from laughter). But the biggest surprise of all was that Li’l Quinquin turned out to be Dumont’s biggest success to date, smashing TV rating records in France and getting renewed for a second season. While it’s a definitely left turn for the director, it’s the furthest thing from a compromise, and Quinquin will hopefully mark the beginning of a new, more exciting phase in Dumont’s career. [C.J.]

Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine)

Before the release of the star-studded and fluidly structured Spring Breakers, Harmony Korine wasn’t well-known to general audiences. His filmography had been comprised of works like the deeply strange Gummo, the minimalist but bigger-budgeted Mr. Lonely and the chaotic, dadaist Trash Humpers. Korine wouldn’t go on to direct another film until almost half a decade later, and when he would, he wouldn’t be returning to execute Spring Breakers with the deceptively simple formal qualities of his previous three features. Instead, he hired Benoit Debie (primarily known for his collaborations with Gaspar Noé) as his cinematographer, gathered composer Cliff Martinez and popular dubstep artist Skrillex to work on the score, and cast household celebrities such as James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens & Ashley Benson to co-star alongside his wife, Rachel Korine. The end result is a pure sensory overload, constituted by a rich color palette, a free-flowing camera and editing style, and some of the sharpest social commentary to emerge from the American film scene in years, if not decades. [Eli]

The Straight Story (David Lynch)

David Lynch has cemented himself as one of the most idiosyncratic filmmakers of our time, tainting our eyeballs with visions of severed ears in the grass, people-sized rabbits doing chores, and Dennis Hopper spitting and spluttering like a loon. Lynch’s films are about as weird as they come, but when asked, the director called his G-rated 1999 heartland drama The Straight Story his “most experimental film.” While it sounds strange at first listen, in the context of the nightmarish sprawl that is his larger oeuvre, the assertation rings loud and true. Nearly every aspect of the film is antithetic to the core concepts of his other works: instead of smashing Americana to pieces, he celebrates it; rather than delivering shocks of violence and sex, the movie is squeaky clean and has no artsy tricks up its sleeve. Richard Farnsworth, in his Oscar-nominated final performance, plays Alvin Straight, an aging man who travels 320 miles from Iowa to Wisconsin on his John Deere (only in Lynchian context is this part bit considered “not weird”) to see his dying brother. Lynch’s broodiness is eschewed here, his visual flair instead working in support of a sweeping road story of love and devotion set along the cornfields and foothills of the good ol’ U.S. of A. Surprisingly, the film has Lynch’s fingerprints all over it despite the conventional tone and narrative. For a one-time affair, the wavy-haired madman plays it straight, and it works astonishingly well. [Bernard]

The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki)

Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of films such as Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro, is best known for his beautiful depictions of fantasy and ability to bring imaginary worlds to life on screen. Therefore, The Wind Rises comes as an unusual project from the Japanese animator, acting as a realistic piece of fiction whilst enfolding historical events into its narrative. It’s a fictional biography of Jiro Horikoshi, the designer of the Japanese Zero fighter plane in World War II, and yet it focuses mostly on Jiro’s dreams of flying, rather than the grim realities of his creations. From its terrifying rendering of the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 to its frequent references to Japan’s involvement in the Second World War, the film is never unaware of its exact place in history. However, The Wind Rises never allows this history to overshadow its message about inventions and possibilities. All the more interesting is the film’s place as Miyazaki’s final feature film, inevitably creating a parallel between himself and the young Jiro, both of whom are artists at their core; men with creative aspirations, but whose works are bound to be consumed in ways they did not intend. Reviews suggest that The Wind Rises is not critical enough of a man who designed machines for war, and yet Miyazaki’s films—often considered children’s tales—have always had a moral message. It seems his final film is a reminder that, once a creation leaves its author’s hands, its fate is as much our responsibility as it is theirs. [Pavi]

The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky)

Prior to 2008, Darren Aronofsky had established a consistently heady, kaleidoscopic aesthetic in his work. From the Lynchian surrealism of Pi to the hyperkinetic chaos and visceral impact of Requiem for a Dream to the ambitious, centuries-spanning spiritual epic that was The Fountain, one might’ve thought they had him pegged down as a filmmaker. However, while The Wrestler certainly carries a few subtle hallmarks of Aronofsky’s style and thematic interests, it’s a more stripped-down, genuinely gritty picture than anything the director has attempted before (or since).

A tale of has-beens and former glory is concentrated in the figure of Randy “the Ram” Robinson, a once-famous professional wrestler who has fallen into obscurity. He lives in a trailer, works a menial, unfulfilling job and only finds consolation in his small-time weekend wrestling gigs or in the sympathetic arms of a similarly broken-down stripper. Such a familiar type of story is imbued with refreshing nuance by Mickey Rourke’s unflinching, honest performance and Aronofsky’s neorealist approach. If there was any doubt that the director could make a film expressing unglamorous realities and raw human truths without the stimulation of technical dazzle and flamboyant flourishes, this movie surely puts those concerns to rest. Despite it being a bit of an anomaly in Aronofsky’s career, The Wrestler might just be his greatest work to date. [Byron]

X-Men (Bryan Singer)

Since Jeff Nichols’ latest studio venture has inspired this feature, I’ve chosen another all-American director, who was also in his mid-30s when he made the quantum leap from small scales and modest budgets by hitting the sci-fi switch. Bryan Singer’s big break came with cult classic crime thriller The Usual Suspects in 1995 where an award-winning screenplay and unforgettable performances bolstered the director’s work enough for 20th Century Fox to have a meeting about it. The character-driven student-teacher Stephen King drama Apt Pupil came next in 1998, but Fox had reportedly already approached Singer for X-Men. He turned it down, made Apt Pupil instead, was courted again—this time by good friend Tom DeSanto—only to finally sign on and set the course for the modern film age of superhero dominance we’re currently (suffering) in.

For the first time in his career, Singer worked with special effects, a budget of $75 million, and in the Sci-Fi sandbox where comic book fandom reigns. And boy did he make it work. It’s near-impossible to measure the magnitude of the aftershock this movie created, after grossing over $200 million at the box-office. Hugh Jackman became a star, studios realized that comic book property was a gold mine they could finally tap into, and Singer made such a triumphantly left turn from chamber dramas to splashy blockbusters, he’s never hard to turn right again. By no means the best superhero film, X-Men is still a perfectly entertaining spectacle that turned its director into one of the best comic book helmers working today. I very much doubt Nichols will make the same impact. [Nik]

While the summer’s biggest blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy continues to woo audiences, the film divides our panel in our very first episode of the Way Too Indiecast. On the surface, this multi-million dollar budget comic book movie from Marvel seems anything but indie, but director James Gunn got his start in low-budget B-Movie productions. Which leads into our second topic, indie directors breaking into mainstream movies. We discuss how directors like Rian Johnson, Christopher Nolan, Darren Aronofsky, and others have handled the transition from small indie productions to major blockbuster franchises.

Topics

• R.I.P Robin Williams (1:50)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (7:50)
• Indie Directors Go Mainstream (21:25)

Please take a minute to subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review on iTunes. We appreciate the feedback. Also, feel free to leave us a comment below and share this with your friends!

David Lynch fans rejoice, soon there will be nearly an hour of deleted scenes from Blue Velvet. Deleted scenes from the cult classic 1986 noir Blue Velvet were found on the blu-ray edition of the film but have recently made their way to YouTube. [Dangerous Minds]

Penelope Cruz has been confirmed for upcoming Ridley Scott and Pedro Almodovar films. Her extensive previous work with director Pedro Almodovar makes the news less surprising but still welcoming. The name of the film will be called Standby Lovers. She will join the cast of Ridley Scott’s The Counselor which is comprised of huge names including Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Javier Bardem. [The Playlist]

Images from Michel Gondry’s upcoming French production Mood Indigo surfaced this week. Audrey Tatou (Amelie) will be the lead in the adaptation of Boris Vian’s 1947 novel Froth On The Daydream. The stills definitely appear to have Gondry’s creative touch to them. [Twitch]

Philip Seymour Hoffman goes agentless after leaving Paradigm after 18 years with the agency. Aside from appearing Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master he just finished a role which director Mike Nichols has said may be the most taxing stage role on an actor. [Deadline]

Rumors have been circling that Emma Watson and Ray Winstone could star in Darren Aronofsky’s Biblical epic Noah. According to Deadline Ray Winstone may get a villain role in the film to go opposite of Russell Crowe. Emma Watson is apparently in talks to play Ila, a young woman who befriends Noah’s son, Shem. [Deadline]

The special animated companion to Moonrise Kingdom is now available to watch online for free. This Wes Anderson animated short does not contain any spoilers to Moonrise Kingdom therefore do not be hesitant to watch it if you have not seen the film yet. [EW]

The female cast from Your Sisters Sister sat down for an interview with Coming Soon to talk about the process of developing characters and how much of the film was improvised. One of the most amazing facts is that the entire crew for the film was only 16 people (and the film was shot in just 12 days). The whole interview is worth reading and if you haven’t read our review of Your Sisters Sister check it out now. [Coming Soon]

The first images from Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Django Unchained have been released. One image shows former slave Django (played by Jamie Foxx) alongside a bounty hunter (played by Christopher Waltz) that is helping him to get his wife back from an evil plantation owner. [Paste]

Speaking of Django Unchained, the movie poster has been unveiled for it. It looks pretty wicked if I must say so myself. [IFC]

Despite Hugo having a lackluster overall box office performance (even though critically it did well, winning five Oscars) Martin Scorsese stands firm on his love for 3D. He expects to use 3D in all of his future projects. [Movieline]

Jennifer Connelly and Saoirse Ronan have been confirmed to join Russell Crowe in the cast for Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming film Noah. Playlist reports that Liam Neeson may be playing the villain role. [Playlist]

As if Noah will not be keeping Darren Aronofsky busy, the rumor is he will be doing a biopic about George Washington called The General. [Twitch]

My favorite indie duo, the Duplass brothers, have been hired to adapt a screenplay from Tony D’Souza’s novel Mule. Mark and Jay Duplass will not be directing it though, instead Todd Phillips of The Hangover will be. [Deadline]

Wes Anderson fans are in for a real treat, six clips from Moonrise Kingdom have arrived. The film is one of the most anticipated films of the year and as we reported, it will be opening Cannes film festival this year. [Twitch]

Speaking of clips, the opening scene of The Dictator has been made released by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen, John C. Reilly, Megan Fox, and Ben Kingsley. Watch the nearly 2 minute clip over on ComingSoon. [ComingSoon]

The indie short film The Southern Belle is now streaming on Snag Films in it’s entirety (10 minutes) for free. You can see the movie review we did on the short film here. [SnagFilms]

Many people were disappointed when they found out that Darren Aronofsky dropped out of making Wolverine and since then rumors have been swirling on what the next project he would be taking on. Aronofsky fans such as myself knew his work would be of epic proportions, but did not know it would be of a biblical one.

Noah is set to be his next film which will likely be a dark interpretation of the Noah’s Ark story. According to Deadline, it will likely begin shooting in July with a budget of around $130 million. That budget is a huge leap from his previous film, Black Swan, which made for $12 million back in 2010.

Aronofsky has been quoted saying how since a child he has been inspired by the epic story of Noah’s journey. Playing Noah was initially whispered to be Christian Bale but scheduling conflicts prevented him from the role. Now Russell Crowe’s name is being tossed around to play Noah.

We just have to hope that Aronofsky’s Noah actually does actually set sail and does not fall through like Wolverine did.

Update
According to Paramount the release date of Noah will be March 28, 2014.

The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced this morning with The King’s Speech leading the way for the 83rd Academy Awards. The film, which also led the Golden Globes nominations (but only took home 1 award), took 12 nominations which include; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Surprisingly, The Social Network only took 8 which tied Christopher Nolan’s Inception and behind Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit which had 10 nominations.

Another surprise was Christopher Nolan’s absence from the Best Director’s category. But another person’s snub is another person’s gain as Darren Aronofsky earns his first ever Oscar nomination for Black Swan in the Best Director category. Some say he was snubbed two years ago in that category for The Wrestler.

Even though there were a few surprises, most of the nominations were fairly predictable, especially if you paid attention to the Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations. Most of the leading nominations were mostly expected.

See who I predict will win Oscars

It was a very solid year for cinema making the award shows very interesting to watch as there was a lot of strong competition all around. The 2011 Oscar winners will be announced on February 27th (a day after the Independent Spirit Awards).

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 hours

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
The Coens, True Grit

Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Mike Leigh, Another Year
David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson, The Fighter

Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy, 127 hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Toy Story 3
The Coens, True Grit
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini, Winter’s Bone

Biutiful
Dogtooth
In A Better World
Incendies
Outside The Law

How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I
Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
I Am Love
The King’s Speech
The Tempest
True Grit

“Coming Home”, Country Strong
“I See the Light”, Tangled
“If I Rise”, 127 Hours
“We Belong Together”, Toy Story 3

How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell
Inception, Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours, A.R. Rahman
The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

Black Swan
The Fighter
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network

Barney’s Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Inception
The King’s Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Comes Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let’s Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Darren Aronofsky does it again. If you thought a film about ballet could not possibly be entertaining, think again. Black Swan overcomes the hype that surrounds it, a difficult and rare feat. It is a seductively sophisticated film with many layers that transforms from innocent to darkness.

Black Swan is about a ballerina named Nina (Natalie Portman) who works for a New York City ballet company. She is completely devoted to ballet and strives for absolute perfection, qualities that are well suited for ballerinas.

The director Thomas Leroy of the ballet company announces that a new rendition of the classic Swan Lake is the next production. He selects Nina for the lead, the Swan Queen. When the director announces that he is changing up the production of Swan Lake, he announces that the Swan Queen would play both the White and the Black Swan, we see the director’s body doubled in the mirror. Undoubtedly showing the contrast of personalities between good and evil.

Because Nina needs everything to be perfect in her eyes, it poses a problem when trying to get the Black Swan part down. She has a very fitting personality for the White Swan but The Black Swan is not supposed to be perfect, rather completely opposite. The Black Swan is also supposed to trick and seduce, which is exactly what the film does to us.

As she struggles with the demanding role, she gains added pressure as a new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) threatens to steal the lead role. This new dancer is Nina’s competition and rival as Leroy takes notice of her Black Swan playing ability.

Yet the two dancers find themselves in a twisted friendship. Nina sees it as a chance to get into touch with her dark, Black Swan side. Lily sees it as a chance to get closer with the enemy. But in the end only one can succeed and play the lead role and both will go as far as they need to accomplish this.

Duality is showing throughout, sometimes even overwhelmingly. The film is about the contrast between black and white and good and evil. Nearly everything in the film, especially the clothing, is in black and white, giving us subtle clues of what is right and wrong. The amount of mirror shots are constant reminders of self reflection.

You can even see it in Portman’s character when she transforms from innocence to darkness. Which is why I think Natalie Portman deserves (and will win) an Oscar for the Best Female Lead. Portman is phenomenal and does it like no one else could. You can tell that she trained for 10 months for the role. She did most of her own dancing in the film.

What I found most interesting was how the production of Swan Lake was in a lot of ways what the film Black Swan is about. That adds layers in the theme of seduction and deception. Aronofsky brilliantly transforms a story about Swan Lake into itself.

Cinematography in the film is much like ballet; it was close, tight and perfect. The shots effectively showed the art behind ballet and not so subtle hints of contrasts of color. The visuals can be most effective with a well done score. Thankfully, Black Swan has that covered as well. Although, one cannot help but wonder why Thom Yorke’s Black Swan was not featured in this film. It would have been a near perfect fit for the film.

Black Swan is a wonderfully captivating film from beginning to end. It constantly tries to blur the black and white line between what is real and what is not. Much like Nina’s character, the film itself transforms from an innocence one to a dark and terrifying one. Although, I would not call it a masterpiece, it contains many elements of one. Easily one of the best films of the year.