Nocturnal Animals Review | TIFF 2016

<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s not particularly surprising that fashion entrepreneur&comma; Tom Ford&comma; made a film that is absolutely gorgeous&period; His sophomore effort&comma; <em>Nocturnal Animals<&sol;em>&comma; is both gorgeous and filled with despair&comma; which will likely leave some at odds with the film&period; For those willing to plunge into a world of sadness&comma; Ford has crafted a heartbreaking tale of what we lose when we mess up and what others can gain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Amy Adams stars alongside an extraordinary cast that also consists of Jake Gyllenhaal&comma; Michael Shannon&comma; Aaron Taylor-Johnson&comma; Armie Hammer&comma; Isla Fisher&comma; Michael Sheen and Andrea Riseborough&period; Sure&comma; a cast that big ends up being pushed to the side&comma; but their roles all feel somewhat crucial to the themes being explored&period; Michael Sheen plays a gay man who is married to a straight woman&comma; but what matters is that you believe they are both happy in their relationship even though they do not get what is expected out of a marriage&period; They&&num;8217&semi;re a couple introduced very early in the film&comma; and leave almost as soon as they arrive&comma; but they tee up the exploration of both Susan &lpar;Adams&rpar; and Tony &lpar;Gyllenhaal&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Susan is an art exhibitor who has been having trouble sleeping for a bevy of reasons&comma; including the consistent absence of her current husband &lpar;Hammer&rpar;&period; Her ex-husband&comma; Tony&comma; sends her a book entitled &&num;8220&semi;Nocturnal Animals&&num;8221&semi;&comma; which she decides to read and has a very difficult time putting it down&period; In it&comma; Edward &lpar;also played by Gyllenhaal&rpar; goes on a vacation only to find his wife and daughter abducted and him left out in the middle of a Texan wasteland&period; Ford parallels three different storylines against each other&comma; as the book&&num;8217&semi;s plot&comma; Susan&&num;8217&semi;s current predicament&comma; and her past with Tony&comma; are all cut between each other&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;113096" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-113096" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-113096 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;09&sol;15131759&sol;nocturnalanimals&lowbar;02-1024x684&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Nocturnal Animals" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"668" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-113096" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Nocturnal Animals<&sol;em>&comma; Focus Features&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Admittedly&comma; the book&&num;8217&semi;s plot is perhaps the most entertaining as a straight-up thriller&period; But what could be interpreted as a revenge plot on the surface is so much more when you take into account the fact that the book was written by Susan&&num;8217&semi;s ex-husband&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a tale that comes as a result of their relationship&comma; and is further bolstered by a look back into their past leading up to their dissolution&period; In this way&comma; <em>Nocturnal Animals <&sol;em>is more than just a simple exploration of sadness&period; Just by not following a traditional narrative structure&comma; Ford makes the entire film into a thought exercise that is anchored with incredible performances&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Tonally&comma; characters are much different depending on which piece of the narrative they&&num;8217&semi;re in&period; For example&comma; Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays a crazy criminal in the novel section of the film&comma; but he feels slightly too outlandish to be anything other than a literary character&period; The same can be said of Michael Shannon&&num;8217&semi;s detective character&comma; who is filled with dark humor&comma; but will always say something that makes him feel slightly unbelievable&period; But the book is fiction derived from personal experiences&comma; and that is what makes the performances believable enough to latch onto when the generic revenge thriller plot takes hold&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But it is also Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal &lpar;who both take on two different performances&rpar; that burn the brightest&period; Seeing Susan and Tony at the beginning of their relationship versus where Susan is at the end and where Edward is in the novel&comma; cements the two as the MVPs of the film&period; Susan carries a hopefulness with Tony that is simply not present in her current life&period; You see the forces working against her&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s the sudden shifts to the present day that hit the hardest&period; Meanwhile&comma; Tony&&num;8217&semi;s almost-naivety is shown as a strength and a weakness throughout the film&period; If it wasn&&num;8217&semi;t for the incredible acting&comma; these characters would not feel as lived-in as they do&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;113097" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-113097" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-113097 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;09&sol;15131843&sol;nocturnalanimals&lowbar;03-1024x653&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Nocturnal Animals" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"638" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-113097" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Nocturnal Animals<&sol;em>&comma; Focus Features&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>It also aids <em>Nocturnal Animals <&sol;em>to have a dark score to underline everything&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s lush and beautiful&comma; all courtesy of Abel Korzeniowski who returns to score Ford&&num;8217&semi;s film after working on <em>A Single Man<&sol;em> previously&period; He is equal parts responsible for the darkness of the film as the cinematography&period; Close-ups and muted shots make it difficult to feel anything other than a level of coldness&period; The opening scene itself is gorgeous&comma; especially combined with Korzeniowski&&num;8217&semi;s compositions&period; There are few movies this beautifully dark&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Nocturnal Animals <&sol;em>is a movie that I have been thinking about for days since I&&num;8217&semi;ve seen it&period; The way Ford decides to tell the story is ultimately far more effective than a straightforward narrative would have offered&period; Adams and Gyllenhaal shine as the couple turned sour&comma; but I found myself gravitated to the film&&num;8217&semi;s themes more than anything else&period; There is an understanding that loss does not mean the end&comma; but that it is very easy to turn it into a final destination&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s not a perfect film&comma; but it is one with a lot to chew on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;