A gorgeous and grotesque portrait of a relationship gone wrong.
In 2009, writer and director Tom Ford surprised audiences and critics everywhere with his directorial debut, A Single Man, which featured a stunning lead performance from Colin Firth and seemed to indicate the beginning of a promising filmmaking career from the world-renowned fashion designer. Then for some unknown reason, it’s ended up taking seven years for Ford to return to the big screen, with yet another star-studded and beautiful outing in Nocturnal Animals, a revenge tale about a seemingly fairytale romance torn apart by the past selfish mistakes of its characters.
Amy Adams leads the film as Susan Morrow, a successful art gallery owner living in Los Angeles, who one day is sent a manuscript in the mail from her ex-husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). Dedicated to her, Susan reads the novel and begins to see the thematic parallels between Edward’s story about a man seeking revenge for the murder and rape of his wife and daughter and their marriage that fell apart almost two decades earlier.
Structurally, Nocturnal Animals is an absolute marvel because to be completely, utterly honest, it shouldn’t work. With this story, Ford not only has to follow Susan during the present day, but also show us the beginning and end of her relationship with Edward in the past, in addition to the story written in Edward’s novel. Possible pacing issues aside (which Ford manages to nimbly avoid), there’s a danger of making one of the storylines more interesting than the other, and therefore throwing Nocturnal Animals completely off balance. Whether he spent the past nine years perfecting this script or not, his hard work has paid off in spades nonetheless, and Nocturnal Animals manages to never show a personal favor towards one storyline over the others - making each of them feel equally important.
By showing us the book storyline, which opens with one of the most tense and disturbing sequences I’ve seen in recent memory, and exposing us to the dark, almost sadistic nature of it, we can’t help but be curious to know what it is that Susan did to cause Edward so much pain. Especially since, in the initial flashbacks to their past, they seemed like a perfect pair, her being the pessimistic and self-conscious realist, and him an ambitious dreamer with the hopes one day of being a great writer. Luckily, Ford’s explanation behind Edward’s ultimate sadness and the reasons behind the couple’s divorce makes more than enough sense when it’s revealed, and manages to carefully ride the line between being pulpy and exaggerated in its own way, without ever falling into melodramatic territory.
For her part, Amy Adams gives yet another, almost predictably great performance as Susan. Equal parts intelligent and unsure of herself, Susan lives in the constant fear of turning into her mother (Laura Linney), always stuck questioning whether or not she’s made the right decisions in her life. Adams imbues Susan with that regret in the subtlest of ways at first, letting the pauses in between her words and the slight creases in her eyebrows hint at an underlying sadness that’s only later explained in the second and third acts of the film. Her turn here isn’t quite as awe-inspiring as her performance was in Arrival earlier this month, but this still closes out a rather spectacular one-two punch from the actress in this year’s packed awards season.
Jake Gyllenhaal has possibly the biggest undertaking out of everyone in the cast though, having to essentially inhabit two different characters in the film, playing both Edward in the past, and the lead husband in his novel. In both storylines, he plays characters that end up suffering unimaginable amounts of pain, and the actor conveys both the grief and unshakable anger that comes from those moments beautifully throughout. He’s been operating at a nearly operatic level of greatness on screen for the past several years, and with his work in Nocturnal Animals, he can go ahead and add yet another versatile, powerhouse performance to his increasingly impressive resume.
In a more unexpected turn of events, Aaron Taylor-Johnson gives what could be the best performance of his career so far as Ray, the lead villain in Edward’s novel that could have very easily come across as over-the-top or unbelievable. Instead, he feels just as real as any of the other characters in the film, and he’s the kind of terrifying villain that not only Edward’s novel needs, but Nocturnal Animals does as well.
If the film has a scene-stealer, however, it’d be Michael Shannon, and it seems almost unnecessary to say how incredible he is as Andes, but considering that this might just be one of his more entertaining and best performances to date, it feels warranted nonetheless. He’s one of the best actors of his generation, and after having roles already in multiple films this year, this is without a doubt his standout performance of 2016. Not many actors can share a scene with Jake Gyllenhaal nowadays and manage to even outshine him, but Shannon is one of the select few.
Now, Ford’s ability to capture great performances from his actors is old news for anyone who saw A Single Man, but it’s his ability to combine those emotionally raw performances with some of the most gorgeous and thoughtful visuals that makes watching his films so uniquely entertaining. So while some of its style can feel superfluous, and it seems at times like Ford is being vulgar just for sake of vulgarity (the shocking opening sequence of the film, for instance, feels unnecessary and shallow upon reflection), Nocturnal Animals has the ability to grab you by the throat and pull you into it with more fervor than most other films this year. So much so, that you may still be feeling the bruises on your neck several hours after you leave the theatre.
The Verdict
Despite some of the stylistic flaws, Nocturnal Animals is an impressive second film from writer-director Tom Ford. It balances its powerhouse performances and breathtaking visuals with an expert eye, all leading up to what can only be described as a complete and utter gut punch of a finale.
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