By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Tom Ford
Starring: Amy Adams | Armie Hammer | Isla Fisher | Jake Gyllenhall | Laura Linney | Michael Shannon
Country: united_states
Year: 2016
Running time: 116
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4550098/reference
Bruce says: “NOCTURNAL ANIMALS brings as layered and complex a narrative as anyone will find this year, combined with an unapologetic visual style that accents every complex fold of the plot. Added to the vision of Tom Ford as it unravels on screen are compelling performances from Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, braced by what will surely be an award nomination-worthy supporting performance from Michael Shannon. Adams herself may also get consideration as Susan Morrow, an art gallery owner who has turned her back on a past and husband that did not suit her notions of what she needed as a ‘realist’ and now faces the repercussions of the more financially stable path she has chosen instead.
“At the core of it all, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS may very well be the most understated passive aggressive version of revenge tragedy ever put on screen. Inasmuch as that descriptor sums up the endgame of all that unfolds, it is actually a slow realization that may not occur to audience members until well into the film or even after the closing credits begin to roll. Knowing this upfront is not even a spoiler because of how seductive the narrative construct and production is. It is not reliant on plot twist(s) that suddenly add clarity to the theme or add any ‘a-ha’ moments. The sum of the film’s parts is the resounding pop that breaks the realization threshold.
“Tom Ford has constructed a frame narrative that puts the audience in the point-of-view of Susan Morrow. She is living the upper class life in a mundane day-to-day existence, which is overshadowed by the fact that she left behind a much different life for fear of a different brand of mundane qualities it presented at the time. She is a victim of her own insecurity. As it turns out, the dreamer Edward Sheffield (Gyllenhaal) was too much a man of literature and creativity rather than the grounded and built-for-success type Susan had been programmed to require in her life–courtesy of overbearing parents.
“The frame story is supported by two inner plots, a rare and difficult feat to pull off. One takes the form of flashback and details the previous birth and death of the relationship between Susan and Edward. The second–and the one receiving a majority of the screen time–is a live action portrayal of a novel Susan reads that has been sent to her by Edward, an odd circumstance since they have been divorced for two years and the request for a proofread comes out of the blue. Noteworthy about Adams’s performance is the ability to play a role in a film brilliantly in which 75 percent of it simply is a feature of her reading a manuscript. The premise concerning the arrival of the manuscript and the subsequent reading of it is a sturdy foundation for the suspense that follows as the novel unfolds on screen. It is also a great example of how the audience can draw their own conclusions or pose their own questions about the timing of this particular plot point. Ford also allows the film to leave impressions of its theme, and it’s only when one steps back that the full picture comes into focus.
“The collage of storylines and characterizations suddenly start to form a wonderful holistic masterpiece. The combination of the two inner stories and Susan’s present day reactions are genius juxtapositions that all share allegorical implications for each other. Things that people let go come back to haunt them: a universal paradox that the film showcases. Quotes that resonate several minutes later in the film should raise film-goers’ hairs on their necks, and imagery that clearly means something in the moment will reinsert itself back into the narrative. All of this is done beautifully and without overt cues that make it too easy for the audience.
“Visually, the different storylines even carry differences in production design and contrasts in lighting while still sharing a clear visual connection in all three. Susan’s metropolitan melancholy is marked by blue tones and sharp lighting scheme. The past, however, features warmer tints and novel colors for a nostalgic overtone.
“‘No one writes about anything but themselves.’ This ominous statement in Morrow and Sheffield’s relationship is only one of many that fill in the picture from the frame inward. One of 2016’s finest, if not *the* finest.”