Nocturnal Animals

If you are buying this in India, you should know that this is censored, certain scenes and heavy censoring of language even though movie is already A rated. Just so you know.

nothing to say.... just avoid.

A failed drama that repeatedly tries copycat-cliche approaches to achieve the cinematic climax of petty paperback mystery with social/mental complexity but never quite reaches the essence of even a mid-tier classic.Stay away if you can

Noctural animals begins with a stunning scene or extremely obese naked women dancing individually on a stage. For me, that did nothing to improve the movie and, actually, was quite unnecessary. Even so, we realise we are in an art gallery. It is owned by Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), who seems to have peculiar taste. Later Susan receives the manuscript of a book from her ex husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) whom she has not seen for 20 years. Susan’s present husband (Arnie Hammer) has had to go away on business, he told her. Their marriage is strained. Alone she reads Edward’s book and the story has meaning to her and brings out in her a feeling of loss and regret. It reflects the loss and regret of Edward himself. It’s a violent story and she is captivated by it. I found it so hard to write about this movie because it gives you so much to think about and the story in the novel is entwined with the movie’s story and we are taken from scene to scene into the novel and out again. It works magically and if you watch the DVD or BluRay (I saw the BluRay) then don’t miss the extra with Tom Ford, writer/director, talking about the meaning of it all and what he wanted the movie to be. Ford points out some of the little details that the audience may have missed. I admit I missed quite a few but when Ford talked about it, I recalled them. Missing the details does not mean, however, that the movie’s storyline cannot be easily followed. While I am not easily shocked, I did find the scene showing early on in the novel extraordinarily tense and found myself holding my breath. That, for me, is the sign of a really good movie, when I am made to forget that it is a movie and can empathise with the emotions of the characters involved. The movie has the whole works. The cinematography, the characters, the casting, the performances, the dialogue, the lot. And the soundtrack, that haunting soundtrack, should not be forgotten. For me, this movie is a winner. Strangely, the movie was only nominated for one Oscar, a nomination for Michael Shannon (who played a police detective) for best supporting actor. His performance was excellent but he didn’t get it. It went to Mahershala Ali for Moonlighting.Finally, while the movie covers some violent acts, including rape (all in the characters novel), none of the scenes are particularly graphic and the rape scene is suggested rather than explicit. Mostly it was psychologically disturbing which is what thrillers often are.

Adams is unhappy with her life as she suspects her husband is having an affair as well as feeling unsatisfied with her current career. Out of the blue, she receives a manuscript from her ex-husband (Gyllenhall) who after a long struggle as a writer has finally managed to get his first book published. It is dedicated to her and called, ‘Nocturnal Animals’ which was a term he used to call her as she always had trouble sleeping. Her husband goes away on yet another suspicious business trip and she finally begins to read the book.It turns out to be a bleak story about a married couple going on a trip with their teenage daughter. Their car gets run off the road by a group of crazy rednecks leading to his wife and daughter being taken from him and then subsequently raped and murdered. As she continues to read, Adams begins to have a lot of flashbacks of her former relationship with Gyllenhall as in many ways the story seems to mirror what happened in their marriage together. She left him for another man and then discovering that she was pregnant with Gyllenhall’s child, decided to have an abortion leaving him devastated.Excellent performances from Adams and Shannon who plays the lawman that tries to bring the criminals to justice (in the book).

This film really gets under my skin, it’s dark, depressing and completely messed up.After my first watch i thought the film was ultimately shallow however on my second viewing there is more depth to it than i first thought.Amy Adams is phenomenal as always, this and Arrival in the same year with no Oscar nomination, what the hell happened there?

An amazing film from Tom Ford with very strong performances. Thought provoking and melancholic.

I knew it would be dull but bought it anyway.. great actors in a mediocre movie