"Nocturnal Animals" Review

Nocturnal Animals is the second feature film from fashion designer Tom Ford (A Single Man). It's based on a novel called "Tony & Susan" by Austin Wright, who was professor emeritus of English at the University of Cincinnati. The movie is about a troubled art gallery owner named Susan (Amy Adams). Her relationship with her husband (Armie Hammer) isn't so great, and the tension between them is exacerbated by their careers. One day, Susan receives a transcript for a novel written by her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). Although Susan left him in a horrible way twenty years prior, Edward still seeks her feedback. The novel's violent, emotional story is played out on-screen with Gyllenhaal as the main character Tony, Isla Fisher as his wife Laura, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the troublemaking Ray, and Michael Shannon as the scene-stealing Detective Bobby Andes. As Susan is drawn deeper into the novel, she begins to perceive it as a symbolic tale of revenge against her.

Walking out of this film afterwards, I felt stymied to a fault. Several scenes in this film are conceived and executed with all the skill of a film school freshman. The moments that Susan inhabits also feel like an extended advertisement for Ford's fashion line. He seeks to shock the audience right out of the gate with a provocative living art display and then proceeds to drench the ensuing scenes in ego and pretension. It isn't until Susan starts reading the novel that the film gets interesting. "Nocturnal Animals" is played out for most of the running time as a manifestation of Susan's mind as she reads. This part of the film delivers a taut, suspenseful crime thriller that stands out from most of what I've seen this year despite, again, Ford's "film school" execution. A movie only needs so many scenes where the sound is removed and replaced by heavy breathing or voiceover.

This is a very bleak story of love and revenge and violence, so I welcomed Shannon's surprising performance as Detective Andes, the cop assigned to Tony's case after Ray and his buddies terrorize Tony's family on the highway. Andes is a man with nothing to lose; he's at the end of his career, dying of lung cancer, and clinching to his sanity by a thread. Shannon nails all these beats and manages to deliver a turn that's endearing, intense and unexpectedly funny - often all at once. Out of every movie I've seen this year, Shannon as Andes might be my favorite performance by an actor in a supporting role.

I've heard some criticisms about the ending of the film which is part of why I said I left "stymied." At first you think it ends in a very odd place, and you curse Ford for supposedly curtailing the emotional climax of the film. Then you sit and think about it a few different ways until it hits you, and it's amazing. Still, there are some unanswered questions regarding Susan and Edward's daughter that would be spoiled if I got into. Perhaps I need to see it again.

Overall I enjoyed Nocturnal Animals. It's saved by Michael Shannon and the story he inhabits. The rest of it is just extremely stylish and nothing more. Gyllenhaal and Adams turn in solid work, though neither operate at as high a caliber as we've seen from them before. This year alone, Adams is ten times better in Arrival. I think the film is worth seeing if you're into crime and revenge thrillers. Ford's style is unique in and of itself, and thus Nocturnal Animals stands out from many other films of its ilk. The man just needs to dial back his ego next time.

B