The small town of Hopeville is a day away from the annual Swan Day, a tourist attraction that brings people from miles around in the hopes of spotting the magical black swan, an animal that stories claim can grant three wishes to whoever sees it. But instead of preparing for the big day, many residents are focused on finding a killer.

The prime suspect is the town lowlife, Carl (Michael Riley), who has something to hide about his whereabouts the night of the murder. His girlfriend, Helen (Melanie Doane), tries to cover up the evidence that might prove his guilt despite the fact he treats her like dirt. Although her friends tell her to leave the man, she just doesn't listen. Unfortunately, their relationship is never believable. It lacks emotion on all fronts, and I found myself questioning it from the beginning.

As I doubted the validity of their connection, I struggled to believe other things in the film as well. This created a boundary between me and the characters, which never allowed me to become immersed with the events unfolding on screen.

Aside from the unrealistic relationship between the two main characters, my biggest concern was with the investigation of the murder. The town sheriff (Wally Mackinnon) makes hard-to-swallow leaps of logic that are, at times, downright humorous. When he discusses the murder in the local diner in front of several employees and two complete strangers, he loses all credibility and becomes laughable. And although the film is categorized as a dark comedy, the humor is that which audiences feel while watching a campy, poorly made B-movie that wasn't created to be a campy, poorly made B-movie.

The sheriff isn't the only one with a laughable storyline. Helen, who is never fleshed out enough to become concerned about her predicament, falls in love with one of the strangers in town (Ted Dykstra) apparently just because he's a city boy. For instance, there is a scene in which the two took part in a search party looking for the victim's body. Why would a complete stranger, who's in town only because his car broke down, be asked to take part in a search party? And if the search is important, why are the two allowed to run off together to begin some far-fetched romance?

The highlights of the film are the scenes featuring two 6-year-old runaways out looking for the girl's mother, who apparently is in Florida. Ellie (Hannah Clayton) and Jimmy (Matthew Evans) are cute diversions from the rest of the storyline.

Black Swan has too many of the elements of an after school special: poor acting, bad dialog, predictability, and sequences that are obviously inserted just to get the story from point A to point B. This story can't survive with these issues plaguing it.

There are some twists and turns toward the end that are predictable or complete character role reversals. On paper, these twists probably looked great, but they don't translate well on film, a statement that, unfortunately for viewers, could be used to sum up the entire script. The film isn't as funny as it wants to be, and is humorous for the wrong reasons.

THE VIDEO
Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, Black Swan has its problems. After watching a few minutes of the film, I thought the color and brightness balances on my set were off. Although the blues and blacks were spot on, the reds were just too bright, and in several scenes, the greens seemed to wash across the entire picture. In the commentary, director Wendy Ord explains that the brightness in the runaway children scenes was intentional, but the fact remains that the reds were too bright in nearly all indoor scenes as well as those near the waterfront. This gives the skin tones a sunburn appearance. This, I can assure you, was not intentional.

The presentation has a few instances of edge enhancement as well, and noise is apparent in scenes that have strong contrast between a dark shadow and a bright sky. On a positive note, the image is consistently sharp and has good detail throughout.

THE AUDIO
Although presented in 5.1 digital sound, the audio of the Black Swan DVD leaves something to be desired. The surrounds are never used in this dialog-driven film, and the bass is negligible at best. Although the voices usually come through clear, the center channel often sounds misplaced. At times it's as if voice isn't coming from the actors, but somewhere behind them or even off camera. The scenes with the two children are often hard to understand, but this most likely was a problem on the set as the kids don't vocalize their lines very well. Although these instances aren't the norm, they do detract from an otherwise acceptable presentation.

The music, on the other hand, does come through loud and clear. It is very sharp and sounds great, but at times it actually detracts from the dialog.

The disc also features both a 2.0 English and French audio track.

THE BONUS FEATURES
Black Swan features a fairly entertaining commentary by the writer/director/producer, Wendy Ord, and the two primary actors, Melanie Doane and Michael Riley. The three bounce ideas and stories off each other well enough to keep the commentary lively, focusing primarily on stories from the set and the difficulties associated with a small budget. For the most part it is screen specific, but at times the three stray from what's happening in the story. True fans of the movie will enjoy the commentary, but most others should probably skip it.

The disc also includes the music video "Still Desire You" by Melanie Doane, and a not-too-funny outtake reel that focuses primarily on the miscues of the child actors.

FINAL THOUGHTS
The basic story behind Black Swan is good enough, but the film lacks emotion and appropriate humor normally associated with a black comedy, both of which can't be blamed solely on the poor dialog and mediocre acting. None of the unlikable characters truly come alive on screen, so the twists at the end seem contrived and out of place. In other words, save your money and skip this altogether.