Nocturnal Animals

Another of those challenging and slightly disturbing films. Jake Gyllenhaal has been choosing similarly themed films lately and it suits him well, here he is well followed by my favourite Michael Shannon as the detective, who is nothing but great. I was slightly annoyed by the line with Amy Adams, which I found somewhat uninteresting. There is not much to write about the film, the major twist comes quite early, so without spoilers it is difficult to write anything about the film. I would have liked a faster pace, but I don't regret watching it, it has a strong emotional course. 75% (06/01/2017)

"Enjoy the absurdity of our world. It's a lot less painful. Believe me, our world is a lot less painful than the real world." This is what Refn tried to do in The Neon Demon and failed. Nocturnal Animals is a powerful story of betrayal and revenge that avoids arousing straightforward emotions in the viewer, yet remains engaging and overwhelming. It is a contrast of the perfect contours of the safe but cool environment of Los Angeles high-society with the whimsicality of the dusty Texas desert full of helplessness. A collision of the emptiness of the consumer world with the most essential values in life. Regretting making the wrong decisions in the past. Will the movie ever show us the character that the story is actually about and we feel so sorry for? That’s the painful question that keeps haunting the viewer until the final scene. American academic art, made livelier by the most pleasurable acting performances. And a soundtrack in the style of Bernard Herrmann. (28/11/2016)

There’s power in simplicity. I guess that’s how I would evaluate this film after watching it. At the beginning, it offers fairly strange opening credits, through which it tries to create an atmosphere of mysticism and I was a bit worried that what I might be getting was another successor to David Lynch. However, I was quite lucky that this didn’t happen and the slow-paced life of the protagonist, who is portrayed by Amy Adams, began to unravel. But then the story jumps forward and I was watching a whole different story penned by Jake Gyllenhaal. And even though the two stories didn’t actually intertwine, there was such an interesting ending that I actually had to admit that the point couldn’t have been any better. The film looks mysterious but in the end it is a very solid drama. And by the way, Michael Shannon is really good in this one! (07/02/2017)

Tom Ford is once again dealing with loss. Visually and narratively, he goes one step further than when he introduced us to A Single Man, but this time it is much more unpleasant, although certainly not unfriendly to the viewer. It's just that the Texan noir that the main character reads is so dark, depressing, and hopeless that at times I didn't even want to look at the screen. But that would be a shame because the flood of metaphors, which can drill a decent hole in the viewer's head, is enormous, and the resulting impact is tremendous. The parallels between the book and Susan are incredibly clever, and although the ending itself ruins the enjoyment for some with its antikathartic boldness, it burrowed into me almost painfully. (29/10/2018)

Bulls-eye. I seemed like I was watching something that I had written. Ford does some fantastic work with narrative levels. The message (even that of the sub-story) isn’t revolutionary in any way, but the journey toward it is thought out down to the smallest detail. The same as the contrast between good and evil, between the decadent and the ordinary inside you conceals an unusual magic reality. Both Gyllenhaal and Adams are excellent. Fantastic music. Plus stylish opening credits with the current face of America. (25/11/2016)