Monday 14 November 2016

Review: Nocturnal Animals (2016)

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I don’t remember ever going into the cinema as blind as I did last week for Nocturnal Animals. I’d heard a lot of buzz surrounding the name, I’d watched the trailer (once) which didn’t give much away at all, and I knew Jake Gyllenhaal was in it. That was enough for me, and I somehow convinced my husband to come along too. I don’t know how I did it, but I have a feeling it may have been something to do with the ever beautiful Amy Adams.

Before I go into an actual review, I have to share a funny moment with you. Tuesday and Wednesday showings have a silly amount of adverts before the movie, because of the wildly popular ‘Meerkat Movies’ 2-4-1 deal. This poor couple in front of us were already there when we arrived, sat through the whole slog of ads, the 5 trailers (although we were shown the Arrival trailer twice in a row, odd) and when the BBFC ratings screen came on with ‘Nocturnal Animals’ emblazoned on the left hand side, they realised they were in the wrong screen. I hope they didn’t miss too much of Doctor Strange, because that opening scene was awesome.

Anyway! Nocturnal Animals is a dark movie split into two narratives. First we have Susan (Amy Adams), an art gallery owner living a seemingly-perfect life in her mansion of a house adorned with staff, and a husband who sadly, is hardly ever at home. One morning she receives a parcel from her ex-husband Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), a manuscript for a book he’s written that he wants her thoughts on. The book turns out to be dedicated to Susan, but is a dark and twisted story, which haunts her.

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Whenever Susan starts reading the book, we get to see it played out, by Jake Gyllenhaal himself and his book-wife (Isla Fisher). Their story isn’t for the feint-hearted, it’s a cruel and violent tale. Some scenes are particularly difficult to watch, and I get the feeling they were deliberately made as long as possible to make the audience uncomfortable. If that is the case, it definitely worked on me. I kept thinking to myself ‘Oh that won’t actually happen though, they wouldn’t show us that’ and then they did! I’m getting the shivers just thinking about it.

So, whilst we see Edward’s story played out in snippets, we also go back to Susan often to learn more about her, and more importantly, what happened all those years ago between her and Edward. There’s a theme of revenge here for sure, and we know that Susan left him, but not why, or under what circumstances. It’s really well edited in these sections, the way something happens in the book that then takes us back to real life, and editing isn’t something that I normally take notice of.

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Of course, I won’t give anything away, but I love an ambiguous ending. One that’s satisfying enough when taken at face value, but when you start to analyse every little detail, you begin to come up with different theories about certain elements. 

I really loved this movie, but I will NOT forgive that jump scare. You can witness it for yourself, I’m not going to warn you, but it scared the crap out of the entire screen. Then I had to watch the next ten minutes from the corner of my eye in case something else happens. My poor nervous wreck of a husband now labels Nocturnal Animals as ‘that piece of sh*t movie that scared me’. He liked it of course, but he’s a bigger scaredy cat than me!

So yes, big seal of approval from me. Just...skip the opening credits if you can...trust me.


10 comments:

  1. I can't wait to see this. I hope my theater gets it next week. Now I'm wondering how I'll do on that jump scare lol.

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    1. I mean, at least you know that there's only one, so you don't have to spend the rest of the movie in absolute terror in case it happens again!
      - Allie

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  2. The plot sounds intriguing, this is going on my to-watch list. Great review!

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    1. It's definitely a must watch. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it if you do see it!
      - Allie

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  3. Just saw it myself yesterday, I really liked how they edited the two different stands of narratives together and how some moments were juxtaposed.

    and yes, the opening credits were just...bizarre.

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    1. I wouldn't have minded so much if that opening was relevant to the rest of the story...but it just wasn't. There's probably a really artsy excuse for it that went straight over my head!
      - Allie

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  4. Holy hell there is a jump scare? I'm gonna need to wear dark pants to the cinema

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    1. Just 1! I promise you, just the one. I wish I'd taken some spare pants!
      - Allie

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  5. Yes! So happy you liked this one. But awww, I thought those opening credits were such an inspiration. These are beautiful women who are so free with their bodies. I found it absolutely mesmerizing.

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    1. I don't know, I'm still not sold. I understand the message of that particular sequence, but I just don't see how it ties in with the movie itself!
      - Allie

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