Nocturnal Animals, the second film directed by Tom Ford, has many layers. Literally--it contains a movie within a movie. It's also not just about one thing. It's about failed relationships, regrets, art, violence, the fragile male ego. It's campy and it's beautiful and it's a film noir. In my view, it's an excellent film with flaws.
I'll give a basic overview here, followed by a spoiler-y deeper look at the film.
Amy Adams plays Susan Morrow, an art gallery owner living in LA with her distant husband, Hutton (Armie Hammer, the actor equivalent of a blank sheet of paper--you look at him and there's no distinctive features to grab onto). Susan is incredibly wealthy and by any measure successful, but she is unhappy. She's too smart for the fakeness of LA. She considers the art she showcases to be "junk". Her relationship with her husband is cold and bordering on hostile.
One day, a manuscript arrives at Susan's door. It's a proof of a novel titled "Nocturnal Animals", written by her first husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), and dedicated to her. Edward includes a note suggesting the two of them meet up while he's in town.
Susan begins to read the novel and the movie within a movie begins. I won't give much away here (spoilers below), but the book is about a man who faces an incredibly violent, tragic event and seeks justice by any means. The main character in the novel is Tony (also played by Gyllenhaal). The violence and darkness of the novel shocks Susan, and we see the events of the novel interspersed with Susan's memories of Edward, the sweet man she married who dreamed of becoming a novelist but didn't seem to have the talent. It turns out that he DID have the talent, as evidenced by "Nocturnal Animals", and given Susan's not great relationship with her current husband, you can see regret and hope infuse her features and she makes plans to meet with up with Edward.
The framing story--that of present day Susan and the flashbacks of her relationship with Edward--is a good, if soap-y story. But it's the movie within a movie, the plot of "Nocturnal Animals", that is the real showstopper in this film. Whereas there is an emotional remove between the audience and Susan's poor little rich girl life, giving the frame story a cold, if interesting, feeling, emotions flood the plot of "Nocturnal Animals". The story is terrifying, thrilling, suspenseful, gripping. Some reviewers criticized the film Nocturnal Animals as a whole since is feels a little all over the place, but I actually thought the juxtaposition of the noirish, violent inner movie with the cool, campy drama of the outer movie worked well--like pairing a nice, dry cabernet with a bloody steak.
Those who want to avoid spoilers can stop reading now--and I do recommend Nocturnal Animals.
Grade: A-
***
Spoilers below!
I mentioned above that Nocturnal Animals is as much about the male ego as it is about anything else. There is a distinct parallel between Susan's relationship with Edward and the violent events Tony faces in the plot of "Nocturnal Animals". While Edward is courting Susan in their early 20s, Susan's conservative, materialistic Texan mother (played--I think--by Laura Linney) discourages Susan from marrying Edward, saying that Susan is too strong for Edward. That he is a romantic, but ultimately "weak" man. Sure enough, as the years go by, Susan becomes dissatisfied with Edward, saying that he is a dreamer who is satisfied with a simple life. Edward says "you think I'm weak, don't you?". Their relationship ends when Susan has an abortion as well as an affair with Hutton (this is the really soap opera-ish part of the movie).
In Edward's novel, "Nocturnal Animals", Tony Hastings and his wife and teen daughter are driving across west Texas when a group of hooligans run them off the road and then accuse Tony of running *them* off the road. This scene takes its time, but you know exactly where it's going. The trio of baddies, led by Ray (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, in a ballsy role as a sociopathic redneck), start off by offering to change Tony's tire (which they themselves stuck a knife into) and then ride to the next exit to report the accident to the cops. But they insist on taking Tony's wife (played by Isla Fisher, who looks like Amy Adams) and daughter in their car and making Tony follow.
What do you think happens? Tony manages to escape, but after contacting the cops, they discover the bodies of his wife and daughter. The detective on the case, Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon in a flawless performance) gruffly relates the cause of death to Tony: his wife was bashed on the head and his daughter suffocated. A small thing I noticed in the film is that Tony is silent as Andes related the violence visited on his wife and child, until Andes adds "and they were both raped", which causes Tony to emit a sob of grief.
Tony of course could do nothing to save them. He was physically restrained by the bad guys. But he is forced to endure what is the ultimate...I don't know, pain? Humiliation? Psychic destruction?...that a man can endure: failing to protect "his women". And knowing that in addition to his wife and daughter dying, they were forcibly fucked beforehand. Tony is beyond emasculated--just as Edward was emasculated (albeit in a less intense way) by Susan, who aborted their child and left him for another man.
Tony in the novel ends up teaming up with Andes to mete out justice outside of, uh, "proper protocol". But even when the opportunity presents itself, Tony has a difficult time meting out violence. It's only during the final confrontation between Ray and Tony, where Ray tells Tony he's "too weak" to possibly kill anyone, that Tony finally is able to pull the trigger (literally).
Given the violent plot of the book "Nocturnal Animals", what is Susan supposed to think? What are we the audience supposed to think? Did Edward write this book as the ultimate "fuck you" to Susan? Is it a revenge fantasy where Ray is a stand-in for Susan? And what of the ending of the movie, where Edward agrees via email to meet Susan for dinner, only to stand her up?
Nocturnal Animals is, in some ways, about reaping what you sow. It's not so much that we're supposed to think Susan is a bitch and a terrible person for leaving Edward. Her true sin is not owning her own life. She rejects her mother's advice only to follow it and end up unhappy anyway. She denies her own talent and creativity (she originally wanted to be an artist, but ultimately became an art gallery owner--the facilitator of other peoples' dreams) and settles for a safe, wealthy life...but she is not safe at all. She looks to the men in her life to make her happy, or change to suit her needs, and this plan fails--twice. Nocturnal Animals--at least the framing story--seems to me to be a warning about not owning your shit. And the inner story is about men not confronting their weakness and figuring out how to deal with powerlessness until it's too late.
One thing I want to add: there is not a single bad performance in this entire film. From Gyllenhaal's double-role as sweet Edward and grieving Tony, to Adams' complex role as a woman who has it all and also has nothing, to Shannon's gruff, uber-badass detective, every acting job is A fuckin' plus. I'm giving the movie an A- rating because it is an excellent film with some mild flaws (I groaned at the abortion twist, and also thought the ending was a cop-out). That said, I highly recommend the film. It's beautiful, dark, thrilling, and vastly entertaining.
Grade: A-
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