Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Nocturnal Animals (2016, R)

This is the last Oscar film I’ll likely have a chance to see/review before the ceremony on Sunday, with Michael Shannon scoring a Supporting Actor nomination.  I have vague memories of Nocturnal Animals being in theaters, enough to know that Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal were in it and that it was pretty dark, but it wasn’t until I learned it was written and directed by Tom Ford (of the exquisite A Single Man) that I really became interested in seeing it.

Susan, an art gallery owner with an air of sophistication and an appearance of “having it all” that belies her true situation, is blindsided when her ex-husband sends her the manuscript for a novel he’s written.  The book’s title is an echo of a description he used to make of her, her name alone adorns the dedication page, and the dark plot resonates with her deeply.  She recognizes him in the main character, and the female lead, if not precisely her, is certainly his image of her, and as the characters get caught up in a story of brutality, violation, and revenge, Susan is drawn deeper and deeper into it.

I’ll cop to being disappointed.  It might be unfair to compare Nocturnal Animals to A Single Man, but I can’t help it, and it doesn’t measure up.  While the direction here is undeniably very beautiful and there are some singularly-arresting shots, it doesn’t stand out nearly as much as the incredibly thoughtful, stunning visuals on display in Ford’s debut.  Similarly, the writing doesn’t particularly impress.  Part of this is because, in my opinion, A Single Man had much better source material than Nocturnal Animals seems to have had, but it’s more than just that.  The film feels slow rather than deliberate, and I can’t get an exact bead on the emotions the film is looking to evoke. 

Most of all, though, I can’t really get behind the depiction of ex-husband Edward’s book.  Conveying a made-up “great novel” in a movie is always tough, and while I get that Susan is drawn in largely by the similarities she finds between herself/Edward and the characters, I don’t have that same connection, and the story itself isn’t enough to make me think Edward has a winner here.  (Some voiceover prose might have helped?  Risky, since it’s always at least a bit presumptuous for a writer to invent lines that we’re expressly told are “beautifully written,” but the book scenes might have needed it – as is, they mostly leave me cold.)

A lot of familiar faces here turning in good work.  The aforementioned Michael Shannon appears in the book scenes as a determined police officer, as does Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver!) as a menacing redneck.  Amy Adams does a nice job of showing us both present-day Susan and the one in flashbacks of her and Edward’s time together, giving us marked differences and yet still leaving enough hints as to how one grew into the another.  Jake Gyllenhaal does double duty as Edward in flashbacks and the main character in the book, while casting Isla Fisher as the book version of Susan’s character makes for an absolutely uncanny visual.  The film also features brief appearances by Laura Linney, Andrea Riseborough (who I still remember best from The Devil’s Whore,) and Michael Sheen.

Warnings

Violence (including rape,) language, nudity, drinking/smoking, and strong thematic elements.

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