The stripped down, unromantic and straightforward answer would be that he makes psychological thrillers with the special effects of horror films.
When you produce a thriller there are really two ways in which you can approach the subject: The artful, ethereal and beautifully constructed way that gives precedence to aesthetics, and the rough, squared, logical way that focuses on the plot to fiddle with your emotions. There is not always a clear distinction between the two and it can vary from one decade to the other and from person to person. Aronofsky's Black Swan can be classified more to the first category. But it is not just the atmosphere that gets you hooked. It's the plot; the classic transition from reality, to madness, to dreamland, and back to reality; the constant feeling of unease.
Pi and the Black Swan are two of Aronofsky's films that have managed to touch that aspects of me that are most dominate: My sensitive saneness equilibrium and the need for perfection.
We humans are very complicated creatures, but there is generally a well known source for each of our driving impulses. That can be the need for acceptance, the hunt for happiness, the urge for creation, the fear of loss. Aronofsky's films are about people that dedicate themselves and put all their efforts and mental abilities into satisfying that inner desire. When you want something, all your inner universe conspires for you to get it but in the end you loose, not because you've lost your sense of direction but because you've lost yourself. In retrospect, Aronofsky reminds us to stop and remember how to be simple again. But he has made this self-destructive path look so fucking seductive that we mind-challenge addicts want to go back and watch... again!
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