Nocturnal Animals: An Edge of your Seat Thriller
Director Tom Ford has always been known for his ability to shoot and direct a movie with a sense of visual beauty and detail. He has not only launched his own fashion company, but has also directed two movies using his knowledge of fashion effectively. Here, we have “Nocturnal Animals”, an edge of your seat thriller that will have you guessing for its entire two hour running time.
The movie follows an owner of an art gallery (Amy Adams), and how she receives a book from her ex-boyfriend (Jake Gyllenhaal) called, “Nocturnal Animals.” The film is basically a frame of Adams’ life mixed in with her really thinking about this book that her ex-boyfriend has randomly sent her.
Knowing that this film would contain an all star cast of Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, something magical was going to happen. Ford directs the movie with an appreciation for cinema. He captures the western landscape and wealth landscape in an effective manner.
Although many film critics will find the movie to be a little simplistic and maybe a bit messy, I think that the cast and extremely tense moments made up for that. Ford has an interesting way of shooting a movie. He likes to have really really quick scenes, and then a very elongated scene. He also likes to go back to the same scene multiple times. I found this to be very innovative and intelligent. The movie had a more emotional theme when he did this.
Johnson’s character is what steals the show. He was the perfect antagonist, and he felt too real. I’m glad that he received a Golden Globe nomination this year. He almost overshadows Adams and Gyllenhaal. All of the characters had their moments though.
This film reminded me a lot of “The Gift”, mostly because it was considered a revenge thriller. It was the type of movie that I thoroughly enjoy. Ford brings a sense of beauty and realism that has been done before but not quite like this. Despite the fact that the story was considered “simple”, I still think that Ford adds a good amount of layers and themes to beef the film up.
I happened to like the outer frame of Adams’ character with regards to the plot. I really got a sense of why her ex-boyfriend was writing such a story. It made it easier to understand the revenge portion of the story as well. Although there were some parts of the script that had flaws, most people will understand what Ford is trying to get at.
The one aspect of the film that was a little questionable to me was, the ending. Due to the fact that the first two acts were so intense and gripping, I was expecting a grandiose finale. Instead, the last twenty minutes were kind of underwhelming. The ending wasn’t much different from other thrillers as well. Other than that though, between the framework and story, I was impressed.
Tom Ford obviously has a talent of capturing the beautifulness of the landscape, while also adding tension to a simple story. For the mainstream that loves thrillers, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie. If you are a huge film critic who pays attention to detail, you will also like it. Overall, it’s a satisfying experience.
