Movie 25 - Nocturnal Animals (2016), Dir. Tom Ford.
The movie is an absolutely gripping thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. The story and characters were absolutely brilliant, and the acting was on point.
The movie follows a dual narrative. The first one is of Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), who receives a book written by her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) that is disturbing in nature, leading to her questioning her personal choices and her life. The second narrative is the story of the book that follows Tony Hastings (also played by Jake Gyllenhaal) after a dark incident occurs when he and his family are traveling.
The starting scene of the movie is quite colorful, and I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean.
The movie does a wonderful job of staying consistent. Nowhere does the plot feel slow or does it feel that the story is diverging. The movie keeps you engaged by going back and forth between the book and real life.
The cinematography, background music, and color grading do a very good job of bringing the thrilling aspect to the movie. The scenes of Susan reading the book and her getting shocked during certain parts are very similar to how a person in real life reads a book. Amy Adams has again done a wonderful acting job.
I would like to appreciate Michael Shannon and his role. The way he played the detective felt really honest, and even though it was not his family that was killed, the dedication that he had to the case and the need to get justice done was very well written. Aaron Taylor-Johnson also acted very well, his character was very creepy but only when at times he decided he was "better" than Tony making him a sadistic monster.
Watching the highway scene made me feel so uneasy that I had to remind myself that it is fiction, but the creepiness of the scene is easily one of the most disturbing things I have seen. Mind you, I have seen the Hannibal TV show (2013-2015), and I didn't flinch or feel uneasy at all during the gory scenes. The scenes where Susan closed the book or dropped the book and let out a sigh was a good plot device that allowed the viewer to take a moment and just let what happened wash over.
There were some reviews online criticizing that Tony did not carry a gun even though he is from Texas. The way I see it is that Edward wrote about himself of what Susan thought of him, that he is a weak man. From the flashback scenes of them being together and Susan's mother Annie (Laura Linney) heavily criticizing Edward, it is clear that Edward is a soft, caring guy. Which is how we see Tony throughout the movie, He struggles to protect his family from the gang and hesitates on getting revenge for their deaths. Edward wrote about himself to prove he is not weak. Another thing that I theorize is that when Tony (Edward) shoots his stomach and eventually dies, it meant the death of the weak and nice guy that Susan knew.
The ending of her being all alone was something that took me a while to understand, so here is how I see it:
After Susan cheated on Edward and left him for Hutton Morrow (Armie Hammer) and also aborted their child, Edward is devastated and wants revenge for the pain she caused. By sending the book, agreeing to meet with her but not showing up, it actually caused more damage to her than he wanted.
The reason being Edward probably just sent her the book to show that writing about himself is the best he could write. Susan, who learns that her husband is cheating on her and not a lot of people like her, when Edward reaches out her spirit of hope ignites but that gets crushed when he does not show up.
There is a line from a review by Film Colossus that is " I'm going to take away every last bit of hope you have and leave you with absolutely nothing so that life has no meaning to you whatsoever, Fuck you. " which I think perfectly summarizes the ending.
The film was a beautiful thriller with dark and eerie moments. A must-watch for all the thriller fans out in the world. 10/10
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My next review is going to be Enola Holmes (2020)
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