Nocturnal Animals

This review may contain spoilers!

There's a good theme about futility in this film that is completely neglected by the awful writing and visual style. I would give Nocturnal Animals a 4/10.

There are three plots going on in this film and the one that really stands out is the fictitious plot of the novel 'Nocturnal Animals' that's acted out within the narrative. This story sees Jake Gyllenhaal act out the horrifying experience of having his wife and daughter raped and murdered while he alone survives, from that point he goes through some pretty questionable methods to gain a form of justice. It's an intriguing aspect of the plot and you wish that this was what the film was really about. The score for the feature was also quite incredible, it really served moments of tension well and built up swells of emotion in some very key scenes.

Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Tony Hastings and Edward Sheffield, as Edward we see Gyllenhaal craft a character who is charismatic and quite enthusiastic about his creative work; as the fictional Tony we see a harrowed man who battles with fear and despair after surviving the rape and murder of his wife and daughter. Michael Shannon, who played Bobby Andes, was a real gruff no-nonsense law enforcement character; Shannon brings out a sort of tragic lawman who seeks out a form of vigilante justice upon facing the reality of his own death. Ellie Bamber, who played India Hastings, really ramps out the anxiety of the abduction scene; Bamber plays a role who is such a very real person that her death is made all the more shocking. Karl Glusman and Robert Aramayo, who played Lou and Turk respectively, really add so much as antagonists to this film; it would be easy to give the antagonist credit solely to Taylor-Johnson but honestly the most terrifying scene of the film is made so good because the family feels swarmed by this whole group of criminals. Michael Sheen, who played Carlos, is probably the only character in the weird aristocratic storyline that I actually liked; Sheen has a sense of wonder and optimism that is lacking in the rest of the cast when he is introduced.

However the best performance came from Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who played Ray Marcus. This antagonist is really what makes the film, he's a terrifying presence that gets at the audience through attacking a family that could be any one of us. It was interesting seeing how Taylor-Johnson delivered dialogue, it was light-hearted and unpredictable often taking dark turns at sudden moments. When we see his final confrontation with Gyllenhaal it's his sheer lack of remorse over raping and killing Gyllenhaal's wife and daughter that make him one of the most monstrous villains I've seen so far this year.

The narrative structure of the film is pretty poorly constructed; we barely spend any time with Amy Adams yet the film hinges on her being the protagonist, meanwhile we're constantly fed snippets of the more interesting 'Nocturnal Animals' storyline and finally (too late) we're given some background to the relationship between Adams and Gyllenhaal. Each of these storylines is so opposed with one another in terms of tone and delivery that you can't help but get annoyed as the ongoing narratives conflict with one another. Adams' story is poorly presented in a serious way, the aristocratic lifestyle might work for period films but it's getting really dated in the context of modern settings. Furthermore the story isn't advanced by anything Adams brings to the film, we just get rather barbed and arrogant criticism of modern society. The background narrative fails in the sense that the two protagonists don't really share any chemistry with one another, so this story about unsuccessful young love just feels stereotypical. The cinematography is quite bland, often capturing bizarre or shocking content without capturing it in a particularly impressive way. The editing is riddled with flaws, most notably cutting to a black screen before transitioning between storylines is one of the worst visual cues I've seen this year.

Amy Adams, who played Susan Morrow, was such a poor protagonist for this view; she struggled to be expressive and her aristocratic role was too artificial for my tastes. Isla Fisher, who played Laura Hastings, has such little screen presence that you don't actually realise she's in this film at first; Fisher's role doesn't have that same raw terror that Bamber brought to her performance sadly. Armie Hammer, who played Hutton Morrow, just doesn't really seem to have much idea as to what he's doing in this film; his chemistry with Adams is non-existent and you grow tired of their stale relationship almost immediately. Laura Linney, who played Anne Sutton, was such an overbearing over the top performance; I struggled to take this Republican caricature seriously in her scene with Adams. Andrea Riseborough, who played Alessia, is basically the height over the over the top aristocrat performances in this film; it's such a fake role that it's hard to watch. Zawe Ashton, who played Alex, gives some of the worst line delivery of the cast; Ahston's inclusion comes pretty late in the game and it's unclear to say the least what her relationship with Adams even is. Jena Malone, who played Sage Ross, comes in with her weird Lady Gaga outfit and strange social criticisms pretty late into the film; I don't really think Malone needed to be in this film and it's clear she has nothing to contribute in the role she's given.