Nocturnal Animals

2016’s “Nocturnal Animals”, written and directed by Tom Ford.

Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer, and Michael Shannon.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (Shannon).

“NA” is a stylish and ironic post modern fable that is essentially 3 movies in 1: 

Amy Adams in the central story about an art gallery owner who has an estranged relationship with her bankrupt and cheating husband (Hammer), a flashback of Adams re-connecting with her now divorced ex-husband (Gyllenhaal), and an imagined story told through a manuscript read by Adams when given to her by the same ex-husband (also called, “Nocturnal Animals”). Chronologically, we see Adams, in her sleek and unhappy life, run into her ex, who gives her the manuscript, and over an isolated weekend, we watch the imagining of the story through her mind’s eye. In the story, we explore a revenge genre thriller, as the main character (Gyllenhaal, pulling a special kind of double duty here), and his girlfriend (Fisher, meant to resemble Adams), are preyed upon by a group of Texas hicks (lead by an electric Aaron Taylor-Johnson). After gross crimes are committed, a Texas lawman (Michael Shannon, menacing here) attempts to bring Taylor-Johnson and his gang to justice, legal or otherwise.

Here, Ford creates a slick Russian Doll that gets grimier as it goes inwards into the self discovery for the Adams character. While the movie within a movie structure, with “fictional” characters having more flair than “non-fictional” characters, circles around itself in terms of the viewer wondering if the changes to the characters in the manuscript are because of Adams’ projections, or just written that way, what we really get to see is a thrilling tale about consequences and regret. As in his 2009’s “A Simple Man”, we get sumptuous shots of redheads in luxurious mansions, and Ford is more adept at capturing singular moments (a character’s eyes in the rear view mirror when headlights approach) than the cohesive whole, but this is a fascinating intro to Charlie Kaufman-esque art house cinema. Fascinating to dive into, complicated to explain- but it sticks in your gut, and is definitely worth at least a repeat viewing, “NA” is worth staying up late for.

4/5

Trailer: Click Here.