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User Reviews for: Nocturnal Animals

Matthew Brady-deleted-1534855046
9/10  7 years ago
"Nocturnal Animals" is that rare movie that leaves you feeling all kind of different emotions and thoughts. Disturbing is one and the other is riveting. Beautifully shot, but grimy and dusty to look at. And it's easily one of my favorite movies of 2016.

The performances from everyone was terrific and I do mean all the cast. Amy Adams is an excellent actress and here she once again proves that. I love the little details to her character that gives it more depth and with the long break of silence that boils up her emotions. Adams dose it again and she will continue blowing my socks off.

Michael Shannon and Jake Gyllenhall are one of the best working actors of this generation. And in this movie, both of them deliver such a raw and grounded performance that every actor would dream of playing.

But the real stand out for me has to go to an actor that I've be heavily criticizing for years now. Because if you asked me about a year ago of what I think of this actor, I would say he's one of the worst actors ever. Very one note and bland. He was the worst part of "Kick-Ass", "Albert Nobbs", "Kick-Ass 2", "Godzilla", and "Avengers 2". But after seeing him "Nocturnal Animals", I take back everything I said about Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He was incredible in this movie and the performance itself stuck with me for days. I mean, Gyllenhaal, Shannon, and Adams are great as always, but I was honestly more impress with Taylor-Johnson more, as he was unrecognizable in the role.

By the way, this is Tom Ford's second movie and that alone is just mind-boggling. Ford brilliantly puts you in the nightmarish situations of the characters and makes it look effortless. I had a David Lynch and Hitchcock vibe from this. The style, suspense, and the substance feels very similar from those directors, but it's use here to craft paralleling storylines of both fiction and non-fiction.
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horizonous
5/10  5 years ago
It's been a while since I watched this movie and I was genuinely surprised that I thought I _liked_ it. I mean, I'm also the first to admit to be easily distracted by beautiful cinematography, music scores and actors I enjoy seeing (**Michael Shannon** and **Aaron Taylor-Johnson** really are exceptional and hold at least half of the movie together with their acting!) and I think those three aspects are what I remember liking, because the plot is.. questionable on many different levels.

For me personally this is also a great example for how much I learned in the past couple of years about portrayal of violence against women or how rape/murder of women are used as plot devices - and frankly, I don't want to see it anymore, especially when it's done in such a glorifying, male-gazey and sexualized way.
The most infuriating thing in this movie though, is the fact that it implies Susan (**Amy Adams**) deserves to be punished and unhappy because she divorced her husband (**Jake Gyllenhaal**) and unknowingly to him aborted their child. And then nineteen years later her then ex-husband sends her the manuscript for his novel in which he shows how her choices/decisions back then made him feel by comparig it to the rape and murder of his fictional wife and daughter?

Anyway, I'm kind of curious to read the 1993 novel this movie is based on ("Tony and Susan" by **Austin Wright**), just to see how everything is handled in there..
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iheardthatmoviewas
/10  6 years ago
We live in a country where our current presidential candidates fail to compare to our current president. We live in a country where minorities have been a subject to police brutality. We live in a country where you must enter debt by taking out a student loan and you are still not guaranteed a successful future. Are you uncomfortable yet? Comfortability won't be found here or in fashion designer turned director Tom Ford's second featured film Nocturnal Animals. The director forces you to become comfortable with being uncomfortable and the result is the most beautiful disturbingly gripping films of 2016.



> From writer/director Tom Ford comes a haunting romantic thriller of shocking intimacy and gripping tension that explores the thin lines between love and cruelty, and revenge and redemption. Academy Award nominees Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal star as a divorced couple discovering dark truths about each other and themselves in NOCTURNAL ANIMALS.

Director Tom Ford starts the film with a close up of a handful of naked older white females dancing nakedly with bodies society would be disturbed by. Ford does not focuses on just one part of the body but every piece of fat, extra skin, crease, scar, and stretch mark to really push your comfortability. No, Ford is not going for shock value, especially not so early in the film because there will be plenty time for that, but he is being nice of enough to give the audience a disclaimer. A disclaimer that nothing will be more comfortable than the opening sequence and if you couldn't handle that then Nocturnal Animals is going to be one hell of a trip for you. Heck, regardless, Nocturnal Animals is one hell of a trip.

Nocturnal Animals itself contains a double narrative strand which consists of Susan's real life and her bringing the book of her ex-husband to life. Ford does not implement a voiceover to let you know that you are now in the world of the book yet he makes you feel that you are watching another film. Ford pulls off a difficult task in making the audience care about both narratives and you want to believe that both are fictional then the uncomfortability levels begin to raise once again as you are forced to remember that one is indeed reality. Tony & Susan, the 1993 novel that the films was adapted from, unfolds how intimate the act of reading could be as an author could tap into the reader's thoughts, feelings and experience. Tom Ford pulls this same feat but just with the act of watching a film.

With his first job being a fashion designer, one would only assume to be blown away by the visuals Tom Ford would create. This is true as various scenes of LA and west Texas are beyond stunning but no one would expect the clash of visuals Ford would create with LA and west Texas. The transition from super cool and grotesque LA to a brutal, violent and revengeful west Texas will once again raise your uncomfortability levels.

After all, this is a revenge film. We learn throughout the film that Susan, who comes from a wealthy family, falls in love with an inspiring author in Jake Gyllenhaal's Tony but would eventually go on to break his art in three different way. First, by telling him to take a step back from his dream of being an author. Secondly, aborting his child. Then, if the first two wasn't enough, she lives him for the handsome and dashing Armie Hammer's Hutton. Susan goes on to live the perfect life with Hutton and 20 years after her divorce with Tony, he decides to quietly place a novel about revenge in her mailbox. We feel Susan's chills as she reads the novel and without ever needing to say a word to her, Susan's perfect little world becomes to crumble

Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams give us exactly what we expect from them. Aaron Taylor-Johnson offers a spine-chilling performance as Ray Marcus and Michael Shannon is fantastic as Bobby Andes. Tom Ford finally takes off his fashion designer hat and puts his fully-fledged director hat on as that was his approach with this film and two narratives. Tom Ford sustains the point that he is not a fashion designer turned director but a full-fledged director as a lesser director would have totally botched this film.
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Reno
/10  6 years ago
**RE
VEN
GE**

This was simply awesome. I meant the story, but the presentation was not my kind. I got the story and I enjoyed it. The performances can't be neglected either. Both the lead, Jake and Amy were the film's highlight. But I also happy for Michale Shannon's Oscars nominee. Based on the novel 'Tony and Susan', but for the film adaptation, the title got inspired by the book that appear in the story. From the director of 'A Single Man' which is his comeback film after a long gap. I would say a good attempt.

This is the story of a successful art gallery boss who got divorced and remarried to the man whom she was cheating with from her ex. Her decision was in particular influenced by her mother. Now she thinks she's happy, but one day her ex sends a copy of his latest novel that's dedicated in her name. Reading it, she realises the tough time he'd with their separation. Following the end of the book, she encounters an unexpected truth which could affect her life forever.

A dual layer story. One was fiction and the other one in the real world. But the fictional tale highly influences the main narration and that's what I call the genuine writing. So the credit must go to none other than the original author. I have seen lots of revenge films, even it can be compared to 'Three Colours: White', but the major difference is the sweet revenge. For that alone the film was awesome. The climax was even better. If you understand the narration, you will enjoy it for sure. The filmmaking should have been a bit better. Excluding that the film is not to be skipped.

_6/10_
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Chicken McFugget
/10  6 years ago
A compelling thriller with an open-ended ending that feels far too easy for what it had going for it.

Nocturnal Animals starts out very strong. It feels reminiscent of Lynch's Lost Highway or Mulholland Dr. The main character lives a luxurious life surrounded by some very striking pieces of art (art pieces which, throughout the story, make things even more thrilling and surreal). She reads her ex-boyfriend's novel which quite honestly makes us feel like we're in a bad dream. The way the novel starts out feels like Michael Haneke's Funny Games. Its opening scene with Aaron Taylor-Johnson so brilliantly builds in tension with his character's mind games. The story however turns into a bit of a tame crime mystery held up with a sort of fun performance from Michael Shannon. The potential to be a very cryptic thriller is there, but decides instead to put all the pieces together for us. As a Lynch fan, this movie made me crave something stranger. I really wanted to be left mystified but instead I got an ending that was kind of obvious.
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