Nocturnal Animals

Nocturnal Animals

Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Directed by Tom Ford

The Story:
"Nocturnal Animals" is a unique film that incorporates two different stories that have a underlying theme and connection to both.

In the real world, Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) is a successful, rich, debonair art gallery owner who seemingly has it all - an attractive husband, a huge house, the most beautiful clothes and an admiring public.  Yet, once the facade is stripped away, she is a rather unhappy person.  Her husband is cheating on her, and she pines for her lost love Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), her childhood crush who she married but divorced due to perceiving him as not having a bright enough future for her.

One day she receives a novel Edward wrote called "Nocturnal Animals," which was a nickname he had given to the couple when they were together.  In the story, we meet Tony (Jake Gyllenhaal), a mild-mannered motorist traveling through Texas with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter.  They're run off the road at night by Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and two of his friends, and is powerless as three men take Laura and his daughter captive.   He enlists the help of Lieutenant Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) to find his family and bring the men to justice.

Back in the real world, Susan is moved by the story and desires to re-connect with Edward.

The Synopsis:
Tom Ford is world-renowned as one of the most influential fashion designers of our time, but he's also an avid director who earned critical acclaim for his first work "A Single Man," which earned an Oscar nomination for its lead, Colin Firth.  Ford returns to the big screen with "Nocturnal Animals," based on the novel "Tony and Susan" by Austin Wright, and once again he produces a cinematic gem with a detailed, complex story and fantastic actors who handle the source material brilliantly.

Amy Adams shines as Susan, a woman who is tortured by her past and lives a very sad life even though it seems she has it all.  She is in a loveless marriage, deals with fickle friends and spends a lot of time alone in her big mansion.  In flashbacks we see her as more a starving artist, someone with big goals, dreams and ideals, and someone who doesn't want to turn out to be like her mother (Laura Linney, in a brilliant understated role).  In the flashbacks we see her reconnect with Edward, her first crush in high school, and their subsequent marriage and slow decline to divorce as Susan starts becoming more and more like her mother.

Now faced with a life she didn't want to live, she receives a novel by her former husband and is eager to read it, but it only deepens her sadness and affects her in a deeply personal way, mostly because the novel was a revenge tale Edward wrote about her.  Still, there could be hope for reconciliation as Edward invites her to dinner to talk about the novel.

The main thrust of the film is the novel itself, and spends most of its runtime focused on it.  In the novel, Jake Gyllenhaal plays Tony, an everyman who has a loving wife and daughter, and are on a seemingly innocent vacation in Texas.  Then there's the fateful night where they're run off the road and come into contact with three rough youths, led by Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Ray Marcus.  For awhile now Taylor-Johnson has been trying to invent some credibility with the film industry to modest success (he was Quicksilver in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and had the title lead in the "Kick-Ass" series), but with "Nocturnal Animals" he clearly establishes himself as someone to watch out for, due to his unnerving portrayal of sick psychopath Ray.  The scene with the group on the road - at night, desolate, deserted - is a haunting portrayal of a terrifying event, but that's only the beginning of the slow spiral into the madness that Tony would face.

In addition to the brilliant acting of Adams, Gyllenhaal and Taylor-Johnson is Oscar-nominee Michael Shannon as the southern Lieutenant who is brought on to help Tony find his wife and child.  He's a no-nonsense man with nothing to lose, and commands the screen with his truly unnerving portrayal.  It's another stellar performance in a film infused with them.  Isla Fisher also steps out from her comfort zone of comedies to tackle this hard-hitting piece, and its no coincidence she was cast as Tony's wife in the novel.  A lot has been said in Hollywood about the obvious comparisons visually between Isla and Amy, and the two have finally appeared in a film together that clearly showcases this comparison (even though they don't share screen time together). 

Just like his fashion line, Tom Ford likes to push the envelope when it comes to his movies.  The big shock of this movie was the opening sequence, which featured naked women dancing in slow motion.  The only thing is that these women were, by all technical definitions, morbidly obese.  It ties in to Susan's art show, but since that's literally the first image on the screen, I was rather jarred by it, but it managed to achieve its job by literally disarming me and allowing me to feel uneasy from the offset, as the film itself is rather bleak and dark throughout.  To this end, Ford is a genius.  With the ending, it leaves it in a way that causes you to remember it and discuss it afterward.  To this end, Ford is also a genius.

The Summary:
Not for the faint of heart, "Nocturnal Animals" delves into the darkest, most depressing aspects of life and brings them to light thanks to a solid script, brilliant acting and an unnerving tale of revenge.

The Score: A