DVD Review: Trance

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Danny Boyle‘s latest, Trance follows fine art auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy) who teams up with a group of criminal partners, led by Franck (Vincent Cassel) to steal a Goya painting worth millions of dollars. After suffering a blow to the head during the heist, however, Simon awakens to discover he has no memory of where he hid the painting. With the help of hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson), the darkest recesses of Simon’s psyche are delved in to, but as Elizabeth begins to unravel Simon’s broken subconscious, the lines between truth, suggestion, and deceit begin to blur.

Film Review: Black Swan

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Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan was one of the most highly anticipated films of 2010. Although the film was released quite late in the UK, in January 2011, the date of its release was still brought forward to deal with its anticipation, and it became Fox Searchlight Pictures highest per-theatre average gross ever.

The film follows Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a ballet dancer who lives with her controlling mother, Erica (Barbara Hershey), in New York City whose life is dedicated to ballet. When art director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) wants to replace the lead for his opening production of Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition with new arrival Lily (Mila Kunis); Leroy only sees Nina as the innocent White Swan, whilst Lily is the personification of its evil twin. Pushed to her limit, Nina becomes engulfed by the competition and begins to lose her mind as she finds herself becoming more like the Black Swan outside of rehearsal.