A Tale Of Two Indies:

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Staff Writer
Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” and Andrew Jarecki’s “All Good Things” are both low-budget thrillers about psychologically disturbed New Yorkers that opened in very limited release on December 3. “Black Swan” quickly expanded from 18 screens to 90, then up to 959, then 1466 on Christmas weekend, and last weekend a wide release of 2328 theatres, just before it won the Golden Globe for Best Actress. It’s taken in about 73 million dollars since its release, the number 5-grossing film of the week for two weeks straight. “All Good Things,” by contrast expanded from 2 screens to 20, then 35, and has continued playing at 20-30 theatres at a time, earning a total gross of under a half-million since its opening.

Viewing both, one would expect “All Good Things” to have a substantially wider public appeal for both it’s story and style of storytelling. Of course, “Black Swan” has the resources of Fox Searchlight Pictures behind it, and is the latest work by cult favorite Aronofsky, who catapulted to fame with his audaciously stylish “Pi” and “Requiem for a Dream,” the disappointing but interesting “The Fountain,” and the powerful Oscar-winning drama, “The Wrestler.” Conversely, “All Good Things” is from the small artfilm distributor Magnolia, and Jarecki is best-known (if at all) for his award-winning 2003 documentary “Capturing the Friedmans” and for helping produce the recent “Catfish.” If future dramatic projects are as strong as “All Good Things,” Jarecki will no doubt gain much wider renown as a director.

“All Good Things” was inspired by and heavily based upon an actual and still-unsolved missing persons case, but Jarecki decided he would have more freedom to explore possibilities by fictionalizing it rather than creating a documentary. His dramatization of the events leaves no doubt as to what he thinks happened and who he believes is responsible. However, the incisive script by Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling, combined with the thought-provoking performances by Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, and Frank Langella, give an emotional depth that goes far beyond merely re-enacting documented incidents from a crime investigation.

Gosling, in fact, delivers a brilliant, Oscar-caliber performance as “David Marks,” the real-estate heir forever troubled by his strict upbringing and a traumatic childhood incident, torn between personal inclinations and family duty. His aging from a 20-something in 1970 to his late 50s in the early 2000s is remarkable. Dunst is likewise excellent as his wife Katie, who transforms from a free-spirited 19-year-old young lover, to loyal and supportive wife, to disillusioned and burnt-out woman of 29 trying to regain control over her life, able to shift believably from one frame of mind to another as events play out. Langella lends a credible, ominous presence as the domineering patriarch of the Marks family, yet also gives the character flashes of vulnerability and motivations deeper than a stock villain.

The film’s structure works well for the story, with periodic voice-over trial testimony setting up the events from 20-30 years earlier, yet revealing surprising twists gradually enough to keep viewers intrigued despite knowing in advance that Katie disappeared in 1982 and was presumably murdered, quite possibly by her husband. The story is an engrossing chronicle of a relationship whose demise parallels David’s increasing mental instability caused by the conflicting and mounting pressures in his life. Throughout it all, however, it is the nuanced acting that holds everything together and makes “All Good Things” a film worth seeing.

The story of “The Black Swan” is another portrait of a character’s tragic descent into paranoid schizophrenia under conflicting personal pressures. In this case it’s a naïve young ballerina (Natalie Portman), a dedicated perfectionist dominated by her mother (Barbara Hershey) and simultaneously repelled by and attracted to the free-spirited, casual lifestyle of her chief rival (Mila Kunis) for the coveted lead role in “Swan Lake.” The psycho-sexual aspects make it sort of like “The Red Shoes” meets “Repulsion,” both of which were admittedly strong influences on the director.

Once again the acting is the film’s greatest asset, with Portman giving one of her best performances as Nina, the ambitious but seriously confused protagonist. The film’s style tells the story largely through her point of view, so we’re not always clear what is really happening and what is in her mind. Aronofsky loads his images with symbolic content, exploiting the use of mirrors, colors, props, and lighting to the point that it sometimes gets to be a bit heavy-handed but is always fascinating to watch.

Shooting with a hand-held 16mm camera gives a sometimes disconcerting documentary flavor to this backstage theatre story, but blowing up the small 16mm frame to 35mm CinemaScope dimensions adds an interesting extra-grainy texture to most scenes that both reinforces the documentary style and accentuates how things may be subjective rather than real.

While not quite up to “The Wrestler” or “Requiem for a Dream,” “Black Swan” is much better than “The Fountain” and at least as good as “Pi.” It’s a good Aronofsky film and its commercial acceptance makes it an obvious contender for a variety of Oscar nominations that may unfortunately elude the lower-profile but overall stronger indie thriller “All Good Things.”
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