PJ Reviews: Black Swan and The Fighter

So, PJ saw Black Swan and The Fighter this past weekend. Throughout both movies thoughts went flying through his mind like bats in a cave.

As Black Swan developed, PJ immediately started thinking of one of his favorite movies, The Usual Suspects. Though it was a favorite, he has always thought this movie didn't play fair. Why? Because almost everything depicted on the screen didn't really happen, but was instead a made-up story. PJ thought it was dishonest to confuse the viewer this way. He kind of felt betrayed by the moviemaker.

Now, jump to Shutter Island. Same scenario: Did everything on the screen really happen? Did any of it happen? Or was the viewer merely a passenger in Leonardo DiCaprio's mind? PJ thinks this open-endedness is cheating. He wants answers. He wants the film maker to take a position.

Well, likewise, Black Swan also offered no such answers, but it sure did pose a bunch of questions. Did Mila Kunis really spend the night? Were the stigmata-like goose flesh and wounds real? Maybe it wouldn't matter so much, but then, at the end, one of the maybe-real-maybe-unreal events turns out to be really real. Not fair.

The old English teacher in PJ always hated when the kids' written assignments concluded with the copout "it was only a dream" ending. This is the last resort of the unimaginative. When the "real/unreal" line gets blurred in the movies, it does leave room for post-movie discussion, but PJ really does not enjoy being left hanging by moviemakers who can't make up their own minds.

Sure, the production values were superb. Natalie Portman was sublime. And it was certainly two of the eeriest movie hours PJ had ever sat through. But some answers would have been nice.

A final word.

On the recorded message, PJ said the movie was a psycho-sexual thriller. Well, he got a good laugh from the guy who after seeing the movie said, "It had lots of psycho, but could have used more sexual."

And then there was The Fighter.

This movie instantly took PJ back to his high school days in Levittown and more notably to "Irish" Bobby Cassidy, one of his childhood heroes. Bobby Cassidy was a local Levittown kid who turned professional boxer. PJ remembers traveling to Sunnyside Gardens with his buddies to watch Cassidy's ring career get started. He was a southpaw, and he was world class. He was from humble origins like all Levittown kids were. Bobby put Levittown on the map, and maybe even got it a little respect. The same way "Irish" Mickey Ward, Mark Wahlberg's real-life character, put Lowell, Massachusetts, on the map.

PJ remembers seeing Cassidy fight on TV years later when he was a top-ten contender. It was a title shot. And PJ saw Bobby win that match.  But, as often happens in the fight game, rigged decisions go the wrong way. He gave nightmares to all his opponents. They always had trouble with the counter-punching lefty. But, to win a championship an underdog must knock out the champ like Mickey Ward did. Decisions never go their way. And the decisions went against Bobby.

You've got to hand it to Mark Wahlberg. He also had a childhood hero. But he brought his to the movie screen as a labor of love. Great acting, great story.

PJ especially loved Mickey's sisters. They were a kind of trashy chorus-the kind seen in ancient Greek plays-always casting judgment on the mere mortals.

PJ read a review of The Fighter which condemned it for being predictable. This also happened with Denzel Washington's Remember the Titans. Isn't it kind of silly to trash movies for being predictable when they are true? If they weren't such good stories, they never would have been made into movies in the first place. 

A final word.

PJ can remember watching a Friday Night Fight on television with his dad who turned to him and said, "What a way to make a living."

The Fighter certainly captured the tawdry feel of the fight game. It sure is a dirty business.