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★★★½☆
31 October 2016
A movie review of NOCTURNAL ANIMALS. |
“I feel ungrateful not to be happy,” Susan Morrow (Amy Adams)
It should have been the other way around: Colin Firth wins the Oscar for A SINGLE MAN, instead of Jeff Bridges for CRAZY HEART, and the following year Bridges wins for TRUE GRIT instead of Firth for THE KING’S SPEECH. A SINGLE MAN was a triumph, not because it was of course excellent, but because it was directorial debut made by someone established in another industry. It has been seven long years since fashion designer Tom Ford delivered his cinematic calling card. Expectations are thus high, especially having this cast (Michael Shannon, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson delivering his best performance).
It should have been the other way around: Colin Firth wins the Oscar for A SINGLE MAN, instead of Jeff Bridges for CRAZY HEART, and the following year Bridges wins for TRUE GRIT instead of Firth for THE KING’S SPEECH. A SINGLE MAN was a triumph, not because it was of course excellent, but because it was directorial debut made by someone established in another industry. It has been seven long years since fashion designer Tom Ford delivered his cinematic calling card. Expectations are thus high, especially having this cast (Michael Shannon, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson delivering his best performance).
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Exploring a story involving a novel within a movie, where the book is a metaphor for the lives of those in the wider film, is tricky to dissect sans spoilers. A manuscript arrives for icy art gallery curator stunner Susan Morrow (Amy Adams). Buttoned-down, no-nonsense, Adams again shows her versatility. Wide-eyed ENCHANTED princess she is not. Brittle, hiding fragility (aren’t we all?), the soon-to-be-published tome is from her estranged ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal – in a dual role). We only ever encounter Sheffield in flashbacks – him in initial THE GOOD GIRL naivety.
As Susan reads, we see Gyllenhaal’s alter ego, Tony Hastings. Susan tells her assistant she treated Edward very badly, so one assumes this novel is an act of revenge. Music, clinical stylings and overall tone of foreboding suggest rapprochement is an outside possibility. It is not until the final scene is the outcome made clear – but it feels like a letdown, at least initially. Think THE COUNSELLOR – the team-up of Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy – immediate disappointment as the closing credits roll, yet the nihilistic atmosphere doesn’t leave you and the film grows in stature as you cogitate on the unusual nightmare presented. NOCTURNAL ANIMALS has a similar potential. Since watching, it has been a couple of weeks, perhaps too soon to gauge its medium term impact?
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Director Tom Ford has opted to make a horror movie, and as uneven as the end result turns out to be, he has still fashioned an immersive chiller, which shames many fright festival offerings. Violence happens off camera. The threat of it in the novel, itself titled ‘Nocturnal Animals’, unsettles and disturbs. However, the sustained length of time anxiety is dragged out undermines the early achievement. Contrast the genre peaks that are rollercoaster rides in terror – the expert filmmakers understand when to take the foot off the accelerator. Also, one must care for the protagonists if we are to be invested in their victimhood – and this is not the case here. Like THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, we need more than just cyphers.
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