DISCLAIMER: Tom Ford's NOCTURNAL ANIMALS is not a horror film by convention but like MULHOLLAND DRIVE, OLDBOY and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN it's a nasty creature that gets deep under the skin and lets its horrors take set in the mind well after the credits close.

 

Basd on the novel TONY & SUSAN, at its core, this is a revenge thriller mocked up as a love story but with an artful technique has been ramped up as one of the most brutally heartbreaking thrillers of the past decade. From the outset, fashion designer Tom Ford’s second directorial feature is something special. Marrying the otherworldly abstract of David Lynch’s MULHOLAND DRIVE with the brutalist relationship status of David Fincher’s GONE GIRL, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS is a fiery backroad trip through one of the most mesmerizing brutal love stories in cinema history.

 

Passion, betrayal, rebirth and death all play their role in a film that blends the narrative of a love lost business mogul with that of the novel she has been sent by her ex-husband. Battling a cheating husband and trying to glue back together her perfect life, a chance delivery from her ex spirals Susan (Amy Adams) into a whirlwind of passion, fear and revenge.

 

Director Tom Ford captures the attention through a very disturbing yet cruel visual credits sequence showing obese naked women gyrating to American celebrations. It’s soon revealed that this is the opening night of Susan’s art exhibition and without her husband by her side, it is quickly established that despite the fame, the money and the successful lifestyle, happiness is a long way away. Her depression is soon unravelled with the harsh manuscript sent to her by her ex-husband and the deeper she is into the story (wonderfully played out in real time in a duel narrative) her life and meaning are bought into question.

 

What is so enticing about NOCTURNAL ANIMALS is the stark contrast between Susan’s picturesque life and the dirty, violent nature in Edward’s novel. Yet the similarities between fact and fiction are as haunting as they are mesmerizing. What is scary as the film unravels is that you never know what will come next and Ford’s delivery and ambiguity all add to the saddened closure that defies any expectation.

 

In the story-within-a-film, Aaron Taylor-Johnson gives a terrifyingly unnerving performance as a highway terrorist who attacks a loving family and it’s the events of one fateful night that turn Tony’s life upside down. Uncomfortable to watch, his portrayal of the country hick is only matched by that of Jack O’Connell’s Brett in EDEN LAKE. The events in the fictionalised story run parallel with Susan’s own life battle but with unrecognizable aggression and terror. As Tony (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) learns of the night’s events, his evolution from feeble man to fearsome aggressor are haunting to watch, not least thanks to the performance from the tales characters. Michael Shannon’s accompanying detective is a standout role not only because he masks a darkness behind caring eyes but because he shares a warmth on screen in a film that is otherwise swallowed in cold depression.

 

It’s easy to ignore NOCTURNAL ANIMALS as a high brow thriller from an arthouse director but that first impression could not be any further from the truth. Proving that being a director should not play second fiddle to clothing, Ford manages to master the artful balance of picture and story interweving a down right dirty story with such beauty. Brutal, meaningful and depressing, this is no ordinary love story but it’s a movie that has more layers than the two it flits between. It’s one filled with horror, terror and a harsh veil that masks the ideology of a perfect lifestyle and one that needs to be seen. With an A-list cast including Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer, Laura Linney, Michael Sheen, Jena Malone and Kristan Bauer van Straten, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS is testament that Hollywood can do glamour AND darkness. Never has a broken heart been so beautiful yet nightmarish.

Director: Tom Ford

Released: 4th November 2016

Running Time: 116 minutes

Age Rating: 15

 

Reviewer: Martyn Wakefield