Nocturnal Animals (2016)- BFI London Film Festival 2016

117min

Genre:        Crime, Drama, Thriller

Director:     Tom Ford

Cast:          Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon…and more

Writer:       Tom Ford and Austin Wright

-Synopsis-

Fashion designer Tom Ford’s second directorial outing is an ensemble dramatic thriller adapted from Austin Wright’s novel “Tony & Susan”; starring Amy Adams as a wealthy art dealer and divorcee, whose life is thrown into turmoil when she’s pulled in by her ex-husband’s symbolic novel of violent revenge.

After an unexpected but impressive cinematic debut with the inevitably stylish but nuanced drama ‘A Single Man’, which he produced and adapted for the screen as well as directed; fashion supremo Tom Ford walks a similar path for a very different film in his second directorial outing, taking a crack at Austin Wright’s novel and crafting a gritty thriller with personal emotional resonance, about not letting go of the things that really matter in life.

‘Nocturnal Animals’ is a classic example of a story within a story, and when added to the heavy flashback element it can make the narrative a little tricky, but essentially this is the story of “Susan” (Amy Adams); a successful art gallery owner stuck in a troubled marriage, living the high-life within the pretentious and superficial modern art world but struggling to take any joy from it, when she receives a manuscript from her ex-husband “Edward” (Jake Gyllenhaal) for his novel “Nocturnal Animals”, dedicated to her.

As “Susan” is pulled in by this dark novel of tragedy and revenge, we the audience are transported into it and taken to the plains of West Texas; where a man who’s modelled after the author and whose life has echoes of “Susan” & “Edward’s” time together, takes his family on a night journey across the state only to be struck by unspeakable tragedy. Leaving him a shell of a man searching for answers and revenge, alongside a tough and determined Texas detective (Michael Shannon).

The film then jumps back and forth between “Susan’s” present life and flashbacks of her time with “Edward”, as well as his disturbing but uncomfortably reflective novel, prompting her to re-examine her life choices and motivations, not to mention the people in her life who shaped them.

Considering the director, it’s unsurprising that ‘Nocturnal Animals’ drips with style, is impeccably and appropriately coiffed, and beautifully shot by experienced cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (Atonement, The Avengers). There’s a distinct artistic sensuality in the film and it’s both atmospheric and tonal, even though the tone shifts through the acts and the pace becomes slightly unbalanced. But the film is distinctly dark, with the novel within the story proving at times brutal and deliberately unsettling.

Amy Adams once again proves incapable of being anything but masterful, in a more restrained but pivotal role, while Jake Gyllenhaal is solid as ever, albeit in a more melodramatic role and a meeker personality than we’re used to. Meanwhile Aaron Taylor-Johnson gets to unleash his inner sadist as the main harbinger of tragedy in the piece, but Michael Shannon steals the show as the grizzled Texas detective, revelling in a slightly clichéd character but adding to it everything that an actor of his quality can, while providing the only real humour in the film.

‘Nocturnal Animals’ is for the most part a captivating and troubling drama, but with the greater ambition and multiple narrative threads, Ford struggles to keep everything together into a seamlessly flowing thematic piece. Beyond the superficial, it’s difficult to see what this story is all about, if anything; sure there are the core themes of guilt and not letting go of real love, or seeing beyond the materialistic and balancing ambition with what really matters in life, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that’s recognisably deeper.

The film seems to overstretch when linking the characters in the “Nocturnal Animals” novel to “Susan” & “Edward” and their real past life, leaving the flashbacks to tenuously bridge the gap with limited success, but the result feels like two completely different films, barely held together in one. And a slightly ambiguous ending leaves space for the audience to draw out the narrative, but arguably too much space, without adding much to the mystery.

It feels like an emotionally distant film, perhaps deliberately, even despite the raw emotion which the novel in it conveys, and it leaves a grim and cynical aftertaste rather than a bittersweet and poignant one. Ultimately the most mysterious thing about the movie is what Tom Ford is trying to convey and what it all means to him.

But despite all of the narrative limitations, which understandably come with adapting a complex original novel, Ford has managed to craft something compelling here; a dark thriller which moonlights as part character relationship drama, part violent neo-noir story of revenge, as visually seductive as you would want and a real sensory feast, if not an existential one.

The Bottom Line…

Despite a disjointed narrative with mixed messages and a nihilistic tone with limited perceptible depth, ‘Nocturnal Animals’ has impressive stylistic elements, an accomplished cast and a gripping enough plot keep you engaged if not moved throughout. Tom Ford continues to show the sound judgement to work with talented filmmakers and the boldness to tackle interesting material, on his way through a continuously impressive career transition.

‘Nocturnal Animals’ is out now on the 4th of November in the UK, and the 9th of December in the US.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Gone Girl (2014)

A big city writer and his wife are forced to move back to his small-town roots to the detriment of their marriage, only to find that his wife goes missing and is presumed dead; considered a prime suspect in a crime which becomes a national media frenzy, he soon finds that things are not as they seem in this dark and complex drama/thriller.

Directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Carrie Coon among others.

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