Memories Alone

This was a really cool edit. The two stories worked perfectly together.

The Good Stuff:

The narrative structure is near perfect.
I didn't care for The Black Swan when I saw it, now I was able to relate to the story and characters more.
Holy hell that ending was perfectly edited.

The Not As Good Stuff:

I personally thought it was about 15-20 minutes too long.

If you're a fan of Aronofsky's work, you'll get a kick out of this.

A very well done edit that's kind of an eye-opener regarding the original movies. Apart from the trademark Aronofsky filmmaking style (long tracking shots following the characters from behind, and the likes) and the similar endings, I hadn't detected the many parallels the two movies have. In Q2's version at least, they kind of seem designed to complement each other. My favorite moments were the parts in which both stories meet, particularly the dress-up montages at the beginning and the back-and-forth between the two performances at the end, with Swan Lake getting carried over the Wrestler footage. Might be a bit too long, yes, but what to cut? It all fits.

Technically, it's all very well done. The Black Swan footage shows a lot of seemingly added grain to render it closer to The Wrestler's, that might be a bit too obvious and degrade the texture a bit too much. But it's otherwise fine, as is the audio.

A very good "outside the box" edit that achieves its goals admirably.

This edit is a stunner! Q2 has merged these spiritual cousins beautifully, so that it truly feels as if the two films belong together. The editing is graceful and naturalistic, daring but not intrusive, with both films balanced beautifully around their shared themes and motifs. A few times I picked up on what was cut, but at no time did I feel like I was missing out; such is the superb craftsmanship of this fanmix. A few people felt that the end product was a bit too long, and it is a long film, but I was so engrossed in these stories (that I'd already seen) that it never FELT too long to me. Don't miss out on this one!

The only gripe I have is with the video quality of the file I watched. I got the HD MKV, and about 45 minutes in, I started to notice degrading in portions of the frame that looked like compression artifacts. (A dramatic example starting at 01:04:28) These kept up off-and-on throughout the rest of the film, and they were pretty distracting. They were especially detrimental in the later Black Swan scenes when they would obscure the subtle FX work on Nina's skin.

I can't say much without repeating what the other reviewers said. This edit is perfect and easily replaces both originals for me. Well done, Q2.