Nocturnal Animals is a stylistic thriller that tries to woo its audience with a story deeper than first meets the eye. While the styling, at times, feels a little overdone, the result is a film that, if nothing else, looks stunning. Thankfully, there is a lot to like in addition to the visuals.
Now, while there is a lot to like in Nocturnal Animals, it is also filled with questionable choices. As such, it has been hard to decide how I feel about it. One of its strengths, certainly, is the way it looks. With plenty of long and meandering shots that all look great, the film manages to pull off an almost calming feel, despite its story. Indeed, a lot of the film tends to veer towards style over substance, and at times, it leads to an unfulfilling and anticlimactic feel. However, even with its flaws, the story is quite engaging. And it's not the story itself that is the problem, it's primarily the way it's told. The big thing in Nocturnal Animals, and what it does to set itself apart, is creating two separate stories that intertwine. However, while it is a great concept, the problem here is that the two stories don't really add anything to one another. They are two different tales, happening at seemingly two different times, to two different groups of people. While it is clear that each story is supposed to add weight to the other, the resulting product caused me to lose interest in both.
The story, which after given some thought, is certainly deeper than first meets the eye, never quite has the impact it clearly attempts to reach. It follows Susan, an artist who is in an unhappy marriage, as she receives a book draft from an ex-husband. As she delves into the book, we get to witness the characters and story of it through what is essentially a movie in a movie. The book follows Tony, who loses his wife and daughter to an atrocious act of violence. As he goes on a quest for revenge, it becomes clearer and clearer that both stories parallel each other in more than one way. And as Susan falls in love with Edward, his ex-husband, again, he ends up getting the revenge that he was looking for after their relationship ended. The summary I wrote, doesn't even begin to accurately portray the story, with all its subtleties, and parallelisms. While the story in the book is a fairly simple revenge thriller, and the story taking place outside the book an even simpler story of lost love, the way the combine as one in creating the overarching story that is Nocturnal Animals, is quite interesting. If you were to watch this movie without giving it your full attention, I'd guess that it would be very unimpactful. However, once you get into it, and really pay attention to everything that is happening, the subtle hints and nods from the book's story into the history between Susan and Edward, make for a surprisingly good experience.
However, while the two stories create an intricate and exciting web that the viewer has to navigate through to find any depth in the film, I ended up feeling dissatisfied. I found myself constantly looking for a deeper connection between the two stories, and unfortunately, I never found it. On the surface, Nocturnal Animals feels rudimentary, and unless you are willing to spend time thinking about it, it will say that way. And unless I knew that I was going to write a review about it, I doubt that I would've spent any time thinking about what I saw. Although I have recently learned to love movies that force me to think about them to find a deeper and more meaningful message, the film has to be intriguing enough, even at its most surface level, to make me spend the time. Nocturnal Animals, unfortunately, never quite reaches the level of excitement and interest that would've made me eager to spend more time with it.
All in all, though, Nocturnal Animals is an intense thriller that offers new ideas and gorgeous visuals, despite feeling overly stylized at times. I was pleasantly surprised by the chances it took, and if nothing else, this film can never be described as safe. While it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head with its execution, the final product is intriguing and exciting enough to make for a good and thought-provoking film that kept me engaged from start to finish.
Now, while there is a lot to like in Nocturnal Animals, it is also filled with questionable choices. As such, it has been hard to decide how I feel about it. One of its strengths, certainly, is the way it looks. With plenty of long and meandering shots that all look great, the film manages to pull off an almost calming feel, despite its story. Indeed, a lot of the film tends to veer towards style over substance, and at times, it leads to an unfulfilling and anticlimactic feel. However, even with its flaws, the story is quite engaging. And it's not the story itself that is the problem, it's primarily the way it's told. The big thing in Nocturnal Animals, and what it does to set itself apart, is creating two separate stories that intertwine. However, while it is a great concept, the problem here is that the two stories don't really add anything to one another. They are two different tales, happening at seemingly two different times, to two different groups of people. While it is clear that each story is supposed to add weight to the other, the resulting product caused me to lose interest in both.
The story, which after given some thought, is certainly deeper than first meets the eye, never quite has the impact it clearly attempts to reach. It follows Susan, an artist who is in an unhappy marriage, as she receives a book draft from an ex-husband. As she delves into the book, we get to witness the characters and story of it through what is essentially a movie in a movie. The book follows Tony, who loses his wife and daughter to an atrocious act of violence. As he goes on a quest for revenge, it becomes clearer and clearer that both stories parallel each other in more than one way. And as Susan falls in love with Edward, his ex-husband, again, he ends up getting the revenge that he was looking for after their relationship ended. The summary I wrote, doesn't even begin to accurately portray the story, with all its subtleties, and parallelisms. While the story in the book is a fairly simple revenge thriller, and the story taking place outside the book an even simpler story of lost love, the way the combine as one in creating the overarching story that is Nocturnal Animals, is quite interesting. If you were to watch this movie without giving it your full attention, I'd guess that it would be very unimpactful. However, once you get into it, and really pay attention to everything that is happening, the subtle hints and nods from the book's story into the history between Susan and Edward, make for a surprisingly good experience.
However, while the two stories create an intricate and exciting web that the viewer has to navigate through to find any depth in the film, I ended up feeling dissatisfied. I found myself constantly looking for a deeper connection between the two stories, and unfortunately, I never found it. On the surface, Nocturnal Animals feels rudimentary, and unless you are willing to spend time thinking about it, it will say that way. And unless I knew that I was going to write a review about it, I doubt that I would've spent any time thinking about what I saw. Although I have recently learned to love movies that force me to think about them to find a deeper and more meaningful message, the film has to be intriguing enough, even at its most surface level, to make me spend the time. Nocturnal Animals, unfortunately, never quite reaches the level of excitement and interest that would've made me eager to spend more time with it.
All in all, though, Nocturnal Animals is an intense thriller that offers new ideas and gorgeous visuals, despite feeling overly stylized at times. I was pleasantly surprised by the chances it took, and if nothing else, this film can never be described as safe. While it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head with its execution, the final product is intriguing and exciting enough to make for a good and thought-provoking film that kept me engaged from start to finish.