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Nocturnal Animals Review

The story is unbelievably violent, but that makes it even more grabbing.

By North BrothersPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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Director: Tom Ford

Writers: Tom Ford (screenplay), Austin Wright (novel)

Stars: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon

Genre: Drama, Thriller

Nocturnal Animals was nominated for an Oscar (2017): Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role—Michael Shannon.

Official Synopsis: A wealthy art gallery owner receives a draft of her ex-husband's new novel, and once she starts reading it she just cannot put it down.

Review Summary:Nocturnal Animals is a neo-noir psychological thriller (film) based on the 1993 novel "Tony and Susan" by Austin Wright.

This film is a story within another story type of setting. Although it's dark and dramatic, it takes you in and you want her (Amy Adam's character) to know what happens next. The story is captivating, but it's hard to talk about it without spoiling anything. What helps it out are the brilliant, in my opinion, Oscar-worthy performances, especially by Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. These three actors just made this film unforgettable.

After a while, it is hard to understand if the story is about revenge or about lovers who have made mistakes in the past and try to cope with them. However, it is still entertaining and this mystery makes this flick even more exciting. That's why the ending of the film might divide the audience in two; ones who see it as the cruelest or smartly written ending or that are angry for not getting enough answers. After all, I think I am the one who enjoys and see the point that filmmakers were trying to make, that's why I love this film so much, of course, if you can say that about a film with the plot like this.

The director (Tom Ford) successfully creates a gray, emotional tone that easily catches the audience's attention, probably because of the mystical, but at the same time realistic, mood. The story is unbelievably violent, but that makes it even more grabbing. Every new sequence is teasing viewers by suggesting that nothing is going to end well, but we are still hoping for the best. That's more than amazing if someone can catch people attention in that way, he/she should really be a talent. The reason I praise this movie so much is that it is almost perfect in a way: it has a more than the captivating story line, brilliant performances, and decent cinematography.

This film is filled with objects with deep symbolic meaning, and if you like films where you need to try to understand what actually happened and that doesn't give you all the answers to your questions, then this is definitely for you. Nocturnal Animals is playing with your emotions and mind, in this case, it is done perfectly. Characters are built in a way that it is easy to feel with them, but this time it can be dangerous. Gyllenhall, for example, has two different roles and he carries them incredibly well. After a while, we see these two characters as different persons, that means that he has done it. He made us believe.

I experienced almost every possible emotion and there were moments, with Gyllenhaal's character, that I thought were one of the most effective scenes, that I have seen in any film in the history. After all, it is psychologically thrilling and the plot, although disturbing, still doesn't let go that easily. Opinions about this film may differ, especially because of the ending scene, but I definitely recommend you watch it.

I give this film 8/10

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