Nocturnal Animals

Tom Ford's first film since 'A Single Man' is another winner, an ambitious high-wire noir thriller with Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal in an explosive tale of love, violence, and revenge.

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) is a famous artist who suffers from insomnia but soon her past is about to haunt her. One day she receives a novel from her ex-husband and as she begins to read it she sees it at his attempt at revenge for what she did to him.

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS comes from writer-director Tom Ford and it's certainly going to be a film that people are going to love or hate. There's quite a bit going on in this thriller as there are several story lines going on at the same time and it's never quite clear what exactly is going on. Throughout the movie we see Adams' character reading this novel and as she reads it we see a second story dealing with a man (Jake Gyllenhaal), his wife and their young daughter who are driven off the road by three men. Soon the man is separated and must try to find out what happened to them with the help of a detective (Michael Shannon).

Is this backstory telling what happened between the artist and her ex-husband? Or is there more to it? As all of this is going on we also catch the story of how the two met and what caused them to be married. All of this stuff is held together so perfectly that you almost feel that if one single item was out of place or didn't fit in the end then the entire story would fall apart. The screenplay is an extremely smart one that perfectly goes back and forth between the stories and thankfully the viewer never gets lost. Even better is the fact that the story dealing with the husband and his family is extremely intense and really packs a punch.

The film also has a terrific cast and this certainly helps everything. Adams has several different emotions to play and she once again delivers a very good performance. Gyllenhaal turns in one of the best performances of his career as the rather weak husband who never seems to do the right thing. I really enjoyed the weakness that the actor played as well as the rage as the film went along. Then there's Michael Shannon who once again delivers a masterful performance as the detective with nothing to lose. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Laura Linney and Michael Sheen are also good in their bit parts.

As I said, I'm sure many people are going to watch this and hate everything that happens and especially the ending. I really think this is a wonderful intelligent little gem that certainly makes you think and leaves you wondering long after it is over.

It's been some years since Tony's flame was extinguished, his career just not to be that distinguished, you've moved on and settled down, like majorettes whose skin's a gown, though his new novel, looks to be, not one to miss. As the story links reality to fiction, the life you've lived is reimagined with conviction, certain parallels replayed, around a man you had betrayed, it's a clever reworking, vivid depiction. As leaves turn you're left without any illusion, of the cathartic pleasure of the retribution, of the years of hurt and rage, that's inked their way across the page, in a wonderfully performed, and fraught effusion.

You have to watch this movie without thinking it's going to follow a stereo typical Hollywood pattern. It that really has a darkened effect on the audience and Ford has done an excellent job at attacking the mind

It's all about vengence creativity and sorrow and the ending can be interpreted in so many ways , a good show