It’s the kind of line that suggests we might be in for some sort of highbrow Hollywood satire, but there’s so much more to Nocturnal Animals than that. Based on Austin Wright’s 1. Tony and Susan,” and helmed by fashion designer turned polymath Tom Ford (A Single Man), Animals is the sort of narratively bold exercise in page- turning suspense and cinematic class that used to be synonymous with Hollywood. Adams stars as Susan Morrow, a wealthy gallery proprietor working in the upper echelons of the L. A. Susan’s past resurfaces when a manuscript from her ex- husband arrives in the mail titled Nocturnal Animals (dedicated to her and with a title taken from an old pet name they had), and with Walker out of town on “business,” Susan is left alone to devour it. Surprisingly, it seems the text is not about her but rather a brutal crime on an interstate in West Texas. Susan piles through the pages unperturbed, almost in rapture, allowing its demons to sink into her own life, her work, and her current marriage. Movies.com > Movie News > Movie News: 'Six Billion Dollar Man' Lands Oscar-Nominated Writer; Watch Nicole Kidman in First 'Strangerland' Trailer. Nocturnal Animals in US theaters November 18, 2016 starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Johnson. The plot is described as a 'story inside a. Latest Videos 'Nocturnal Animals': Official Trailer Stephen Colbert Election Night Special Video Starchitects: Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner of Marmol Radziner. Read Matt Goldberg's Nocturnal Animals review; Tom Ford's film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer and Laura Linney. Ford lets the two timelines play out in parallel, with Susan in the real world and Jake Gyllenhaal playing both Edward, the author and her ex- husband, and Tony, the lead character of his text. The fact that Susan pictures Edward when she reads is interesting, as the character’s wife is played by Isla Fisher — another red head, of course, but still not Susan herself. Gyllenhaal basically takes center stage at this early point — he might even have more dialogue and screen time — and it’s his story where Ford finds drama. The page- turner within the melodrama follows a husband and wife and their teenage daughter as they head out on a road trip at night. On the interstate they’re terrorized by a group of white trash thugs (led by Aaron Taylor- Johnson) who take them hostage. Tony manages to escape and enlists a local Sheriff (an unstoppable Michael Shannon) to help track them down. The director’s deft handling of these ramped- up sequences — a totally different sort of filmmaking compared to his debut — makes you wonder what exactly Tom Ford can’t do. The interstate chase is a nail- biter. The manhunt with Gyllenhaal and Shannon later on plays like a wonderfully campy buddy cop movie. It’s in the gearshift between these worlds that Ford seems to struggle and yet, distracting as they may be, these lurches into reality accentuate just how cold Susan’s life has become. Her husband is clearly cheating on her but she doesn’t seem to mind; her gallery (shown as some sort of reflection of her subconscious) is occupied by the sort of shallow, immediate, soulless artwork you might find on the walls of London’s Saatchi. It’s a world Ford presumably knows all too well — maybe even a bit too well, if Nocturnal Animals is anything to go by. Kudos will presumably be given for the movie’s digs at collagen injections, absurd parties, and tech- obsessed interns, but — perhaps not wanting to bite the feeding hand — each slight comes off as rather tame. Edward’s novel does appear to switch a few lights back on and get Susan’s vital juices flowing. She begins to warm a little and become more introspective. Adams beautifully blossoms at this point, reflecting on her past relationship, as the prior coldness just doesn’t suit her. With everything going on, Nocturnal Animals is the sort of narrative and tonal minefield that a lesser director could easily have gotten lost in. Ford allows us to consider and cherish each unique thread and wonder just how it could all possibly come together. Each place has its own vibe, almost its own genre, and it’s a credit to Ford, cinematographer Seamus Mc. Garvey, and the entire production team that it works at all. This is the output of a great creative mind, testing the limits of this fanciful, wonderful tool he’s suddenly found at his disposal. Nocturnal Animals premiered at the 2. Venice Film Festival and will hit theaters on November 1. See our complete Venice 2.
A- See More: Amy Adams, Festivals, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals, TIFF 2. Tom Ford, Venice 2. Nocturnal Animals Review: Stories of Your Life. Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals largely revolves around two truisms: people (specifically, women) eventually turn into their mothers, and that writers should write what they know. Ford has taken these two ideas and turned them into two, intertwining stories that come to the same thematic point: we can’t escape the narratives that come to define us. A woman who tries to pull away from her mother’s footsteps will eventually be sucked into the same despair. A man who was hurt by his ex- wife can only see himself within the framework of the emotional devastation. Featuring incredible performances from its entire case, Nocturnal Animals is a haunting examination of two people trapped by their past, present, and future. Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) is a depressed art dealer who has grown distant from her husband Hutton (Armie Hammer). One day, Susan receives a package from her ex- husband, Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal). The package contains a novel entitled “Nocturnal Animals”, and it’s dedicated to her. While Hutton is away on business, Susan begins reading the book, which is about family man Tony Hastings (also Gyllenhaal) who, while on a road trip with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber), gets attacked by three violent rednecks led by Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor- Johnson). After Tony’s wife and daughter are kidnapped by the rednecks, he enlists the help of officer Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) to help find his lost family. Meanwhile, back in the real world, Susan begins to flashback to her life with Edward and thinking about how their marriage fell apart. Image via Focus Features. The film starts at an interesting place after some shocking opening credits that feature naked obese women happily dancing as part of Susan’s new art exhibit. It’s not so much that the dancing women have meaning as much as Susan, like an addict who has been rendered numb over time, is trying to shock her system awake. We eventually learn she’s an artist who never pursued her creativity so she decided to run an art gallery instead. She’s a woman who’s trying to find meaning in art, and yet she’s spent almost twenty years running from the shape of her own story, which she finally has to confront in the form of Edward’s book. Through the Edward/Tony narrative, we see the pain that has consumed him in the intervening years. Rather than tell an autobiographical tale, Edward has transferred his raw emotions into a dark, twisted revenge narrative. He’s not only baring his soul to Susan; he’s showing her the soul she left him with after she ripped apart their marriage. By looking at Edward’s story figuratively rather than literally, Susan begins to feel the emotional cost of her actions, and, even more tragically, that she was perhaps fated to make those choices because of her similarities to her selfish mother (Laura Linney). Image via Focus Features. Normally, when a fiction is nestled inside a movie, that fiction carries less weight. It’s not “real”, so it doesn’t matter as much. Ford subverts this expectation by making Edward’s “fiction” as real as Susan’s life. We’re looking at two damaged people through two lenses, but they’re occupying the same emotional space even if they haven’t inhabited the same physical space in 1. There’s a great swell of pity from Ford for his characters, but also a sense of disgust at how they’ve treated each other. Susan and Edward are both tragic figures, and yet they’re also partially responsible for the narratives they’ve constructed. Ford’s direction is, like his previous feature A Single Man, immaculate. Seamus Mc. Garvey’s cinematography is striking, and composer Abel Korzeniowski once again provides his director with a brooding, sorrowful score. As one would expect from a fashion designer, Ford outfits his characters beautifully, but the fashion always helps illustrate the characters. The stark, clean lines of Susan’s expensive wardrobe betray a woman whose current life is tidy because it’s hollow, and Tony’s clothing eventually becomes simple and direct as his worldview narrows to getting revenge against Ray. Image via Focus. But where Nocturnal Animals shines brightest is with its performances. Between Arrival and Nocturnal Animals, Amy Adams should get nominated for Best Actress for both films and win both Oscars in a tie. The film basically asks her to play two roles: the optimistic grad student who believes she can break away from her family and live happily ever after with aspiring novelist Edward; and the struggling gallery owner in a loveless marriage who regrets what her life has become. Adams is one of the finest actors working today, and her work here is among her finest. Shannon is the other standout in a cast where there isn’t a weak link. He plays Bobby with a fascinating mix of tired resignation, grim determination, and almost comical indifference. Ford and Shannon never let Bobby simply sit as a good guy who’s aiding Tony. He’s the weary traveler who has seen all of life’s injustices and on the one hand he’s willing to accept it, and on the other hand he wants to rage against what’s been done to Tony. You never quite know what to expect from Bobby in a given scene, and yet the performance always rings with pathos, humanity, and even humor. Image via Focus Features. Nocturnal Animals didn’t hit me with the same emotional gut- punch as A Single Man, and yet it feels like a richer, more complex, and ambitious film that I think will stay with me long after this morning’s screening. Ford has taken the fatalism of the revenge genre and spun it into a reflection of regret and bitterness. It’s a movie that gets under your skin, into your bones, and leaves you feeling as trapped as its two doomed protagonists. Rating: A- Nocturnal Animals opens December 9th. To catch up on all of our TIFF 2.
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