1505

Director: Tom Ford

Cast: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Laura Linney, Michael Shannon, Karl Glusman, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Sheen

Rating: 15

Running Time: 117 mins

Release Date: November 4th, 2016

It’s been seven years since Tom Ford’s directional debut, A SINGLE MAN, was released to critical acclaim. Now, the fashion designer plunges himself back into the world of film, again adapting a novel, here it’s Austin Wright’s “Tony and Susan”. Simultaneously satirizing the art world and the lives of the rich while weaving a pulpy, gritty tale of revenge, Ford unfortunately never quite gets a grip on the material to form it into a whole. The two story strands presented in the film remain at odds throughout and the more focus given to one plot point naturally halts the other, causing an uneven stop-start process to the story. Just like the Gucci suits the designer is known for, Ford knows how to make something look good, aided by cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, the film is beautifully shot, whether it’s the unforgiving desert or the art world that Amy Adam’s character inhabits.

Adam’s, always on top form, plays Susan, an art gallery owner unhappy with the way her life has turned out. With her socialite husband Armie Hammer away on business, Susan has the weekend to herself, which is when she receives a copy of her ex-husbands newest book, a violent revenge tale about a man who’s family is taken from him. With the book dedicated to her, Susan dives into its pages and from here the narrative splits in two, as we follow the events of the book and Susan’s reaction to what she is reading. The film spends far too much time involved in the events of the book, often relating scenes of Adam’s to just shots of her reacting to what she’s read.

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Ford does have fun in his fictional literacy world, crafting an ensemble of characters who are all unhinged in their own right – Michael Shannon as an officer full of attitude and droll one liners is particularly fun, as is Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ray, the unhinged and violent delinquent responsible for attacking the main character of the book. Jake Gyllenhaal, as the protagonist of the book, is on fine form, even if he’s more restrained than we’re use to seeing him. Once the connection between the book and what happened between Susan and her ex is apparent, the scenes drag far longer then needed, with no real narrative reality to these scenes, they’re just a way to pad out the run time. That is bar one terrifically tense sequence at the beginning that sets the books plot in motion, a sequence that is never quite topped.

Nocturnal Animals

Really, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS biggest crime is how devoid of emotion it is, a construct of Susan as a character and her increasing state of unhappiness with her life. Cold and distant, the film doesn’t let its audience or itself poke underneath the surface, maybe because there’s nothing there. Much like the art world Susan inhabits, everything’s pretty and lovely to look at, but underneath is a hollow shell; it doesn’t mean anything.

Verdict

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