Director: Tom Ford
Writers: Tom Ford (Screenplay) Austin Wright
Starring: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber, Armie Hammer
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Part of me wishes that I’d skipped Nocturnal Animals in theaters.
That’s a weird thing to be writing, coming out of a movie that I really enjoyed. But it’s true–I’ve never before felt such a powerful urge to get up and walk out of a theater. Had I watched it at home, a couple months from now, there are multiple points where I would have just paused it and gone for a walk to cool down. That’s how stressful an experience the film is.
There’s another part of me that relishes that cinematic experience, because of how it accentuates the events that occurred in front of me. It evoked a sense of suffocation, as if I was being drowned in the experience. And the noticeable reactions of the audience (myself included) during multiple scenes was indicative that the film was working.
Of course, the whole affair is a fictional account. Sure, it takes place in what could, feasibly, be our world. But that disconnect between the viewer and the film should still exist, right? Wrong. Tom Ford and co look at that disconnect, laugh at it, rip it up, and toss it in the trash. And that’s largely because of the absolutely ingenious framing device the film uses.
Nocturnal Animals is based on a novel, which I haven’t read, so I don’t know how similar the two are. But the film’s primary plot is told as if it were a novel being read by Amy Adams’ character, Susan, written by her ex-husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). And you must be reading this thinking “man, the plot that was so stressful to you was presented as a work of fiction within this fictional world? What is wrong with you?”
The problem with that is that the characters within the novel are imagined by Susan as stand-ins for real life people–down to Gyllenhaal not only portraying Edward, but the protagonist of his own novel, Tony Hastings. And the physical similarities between Adams, Isla Fisher, and Ellie Bamber (who play Tony’s wife and daughter, respectively) should not go unnoticed. Which, of course, raises questions as to the nature of what the viewer should treat as reality in Nocturnal Animals.
On top of that, Susan’s breakdown while reading the novel is brutal and feels incredibly real. As she envisions–vividly–the violent reality of the Hastings family, everything spirals. She sees things; she calls her daughter to make sure she’s Ok. All of this she does while struggling to find anything in her life worth caring about.
This framing device is really unlike anything I’ve seen on film before. The story-within-a-story-within-a-story structure is an incredible method through which to convey this particular narrative. I’m sure the novel does it as well, in which case it too deserves praise for this. I guess it’s not entirely revolutionary, but it’s a device so rarely used that it feels fresh. That’s something I appreciate.
There’s a line, early on in the film where Susan confesses to feeling guilty for being unhappy. After all, there are people who have it far worse than she does–which Edward, through his novel, is all too pleased to remind her of. She inhabits this awful space, and as a result, acts a perfect audience stand in. Adams’ performance is a perfect guide for the viewer. Without her, the film just wouldn’t work.
The same is true of Gyllenhaal. He delivers a performance that, if it weren’t for the existence of Nightcrawler, would likely be the highest point of his career. He plays two (and I’d argue it’s closer to three) different characters over the course of the film’s 116 minute run time. Each of the performances is masterful, and, much like Adams’ portrayal of Susan, feels a little bit too real for the purposes of my comfort.
Nocturnal Animals has an incredible degree of depth to it–the way the three narratives are interwoven with one another is phenomenal. And there are revelations, especially in the last third of the film, where the symbolic nature of the novel really comes into play. There’s one scene that I think is a bit heavy handed and handholds the viewer, but Jena Malone is also in that scene.
Oh yeah, she’s in this movie! I didn’t know anything aside from the leads going in, so the majority of the cast–Malone, along with Michael Shannon, Armie Hammer, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson–was a pleasant surprise.
Before I wrap this up, I want to go back to the film’s tone really quickly because I need to talk about the editing and cinematography. The close up, slightly out of focus shots in this film lend it a ridiculous sense of claustrophobia. They come at awful times, giving the sense that there’s something lurking off screen that the viewer can’t quite see. And then they jump cut to wide, open shots which act as a bit of a release valve. It’s really well done.
Anyways, I’ve done my best to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible. Which means that, unfortunately, I haven’t been able to delve into some of the elements of the film I would really like to get into. But hey, maybe I’ll write a separate piece about that, which you can all read because this review has been so convincing and you’re planning on heading out the door as soon as you finish this sentence.
Except that wasn’t the last sentence in the review, so now you’ve continued reading thinking there might but something of substance left. But there wasn’t. How unfortunate.
Maybe now?
No, you missed again.
Go see Nocturnal Animals, but be like me and go watch something super goofy afterwards and cool down. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll need it.
