Requiem for a Dream is little more than an artsy Reefer Madness. You do drugs: you will end up performing sex shows in front of creepy, old black men; your arm will rot off; you will be lobotomized. Scarrrry

It is well-made and well-acted (if not taking into account Jared Leto - he's terrible), it's just dumb as dirt.

Set in the cultish world of ballet and revolving around a performance of Swan Lake, Darren Aronofksy’s The Black Swan may be the best Dario Argento movie that Argento didn’t direct. It’s a psychological horror/thriller that recalls the finest of the Italian giallo films. Or imagine The Red Shoes directed by Hitchcock at his most demented and you’ll get a sense of the spinetingling creepiness and ravishing visuals served up by Aronofky’s wonderfully warped cinematic mindfucker.

It’s rare for a film these days to actually be scary. Most contemporary horror flicks are repulsive rather than frightening, repelling the viewer instead of seducing them. The Black Swan is jump-out-of-your-seat scary and it achieves its scares honestly, through evocative storytelling and crafty film making. In addition, it’s sexy as hell, full of gothic atmosphere and genuine eroticism - a fairytale for adults.

Natalie Portman, Barbara Hershey, Wynona Ryder and Vincent Cassel deliver terrific performances. Matthew Libatique’s cinematography is stunning. The sound design is effectively spooky and David Stein’s art direction evokes the technicolor magic of a Michael Powell film (as well as Argento).

Aronofsky, who directed one of the worst films ever made, the loathsome Requiem For A Dream, has now redeemed himself with two extraordinary films in a row: The Black Swan and 2008’s The Wrestler.

I’m rather certain my Argento comparison will hold up to careful scrutiny. I need to see Swan again, but on a first viewing, many of Argento’s stylistic flourishes, both psychological and visual, permeate The Black Swan like an intoxicating cloud of opium smoke: the surrealistic dreamscapes, the lethal eroticism of sharp-edged objects, a virginal heroine in the thrall of suppressed sexuality, setting the action in a theater, windows and mirrors as portals into the subconscious, mother love, lesbianism, Catholic guilt, secret societies, occultism, the id on fire, blood, blood, blood….The Black Swan would make a great companion to Suspiria and Opera.

At the end of tonight’s screening of The Black Swan at the Austin Film Festival the audience cheered loudly in a spontaneous eruption of delight. We all felt the kind of giddiness one feels after being manhandled by a master filmmaker. Aronofsy may not quite be a master yet, but he’s getting there.

As a publishing professional for 40 years, I think any publisher would much rather have a first-person life-after-death-experience book than a biography of Mitterand. Unless Mitterand was much more interesting than I've been led to believe.

Films about married couples grieving the loss of a child are a dime a dozen. Really really great ones are not so common. Rabbit Hole is more than uncommonly good. It's terrific. A powerful film without a false note, expect it to gather up some Oscars for this year. Certain nominations are: director John Cameron Mitchell, Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, screenplay David Lindsay-Abaire. Likely nominations are: Dianne Wiest, Miles Teller.

"Rabbit Hole is extraordinary. 4 stars."
I totally agree , Rabbit Hole was flawless. I've never liked suburban-life stories, Nicole Kidman or Sandra Oh ...but this movie changed my mind.The acting was superb,the screenplay was excellent... and oh, yes..I had tears in my eyes..

Blanchard is a great actress who needs and deserves notoreity.