Nocturnal Animals

"Enjoy the absurdity of our world. It's a lot less painful. Believe me, our world is a lot less painful than the real world." This is what Refn tried to do in The Neon Demon and failed. Nocturnal Animals is a powerful story of betrayal and revenge that avoids arousing straightforward emotions in the viewer, yet remains engaging and overwhelming. It is a contrast of the perfect contours of the safe but cool environment of Los Angeles high-society with the whimsicality of the dusty Texas desert full of helplessness. A collision of the emptiness of the consumer world with the most essential values in life. Regretting making the wrong decisions in the past. Will the movie ever show us the character that the story is actually about and we feel so sorry for? That’s the painful question that keeps haunting the viewer until the final scene. American academic art, made livelier by the most pleasurable acting performances. And a soundtrack in the style of Bernard Herrmann. (29/11/2016)

Another of those challenging and slightly disturbing films. Jake Gyllenhaal has been choosing similarly themed films lately and it suits him well, here he is well followed by my favourite Michael Shannon as the detective, who is nothing but great. I was slightly annoyed by the line with Amy Adams, which I found somewhat uninteresting. There is not much to write about the film, the major twist comes quite early, so without spoilers it is difficult to write anything about the film. I would have liked a faster pace, but I don't regret watching it, it has a strong emotional course. 75% (07/01/2017)

There’s power in simplicity. I guess that’s how I would evaluate this film after watching it. At the beginning, it offers fairly strange opening credits, through which it tries to create an atmosphere of mysticism and I was a bit worried that what I might be getting was another successor to David Lynch. However, I was quite lucky that this didn’t happen and the slow-paced life of the protagonist, who is portrayed by Amy Adams, began to unravel. But then the story jumps forward and I was watching a whole different story penned by Jake Gyllenhaal. And even though the two stories didn’t actually intertwine, there was such an interesting ending that I actually had to admit that the point couldn’t have been any better. The film looks mysterious but in the end it is a very solid drama. And by the way, Michael Shannon is really good in this one! (08/02/2017)

Beautifully shot and stylized, outstanding music and magnificently performed, bombastic and snobbish nothing. The worst thing is that the final unraveling scene (and it doesn't matter which of the two or three possible interpretations you chose) does not justify the would-be ingenious formal construction as a mindfuck. It rather fully shows that instead of three different story line layers, one main story line would be more than enough to achieve the same effect and convey the same message (for all three possible messages). However, introductory hardcore subtitles should be kept as they are the best and most subversive part of it. (22/11/2016)

Ford had me spellbound in a way, no doubt about it. In terms of direction, this is truly first-rate stuff with the highly addictive and suffocating atmosphere of the Texas backwoods, for which I have an indescribable fondness on the movie screen. The story has laudable intentions and really does a brilliant job of illustrating the contrast between the opulence and absurdity of the L.A. lifestyle with the uncompromising arid wasteland, but it still comes across as somewhat disjointed, failing to deliver anything very new in the individual details, some of the dialogues could have been better written by Dežo from Most, and the twist is weak, not so much in meaning as in the way it’s delivered, including the final passage that basically says nothing (the only direct criticism of Ford). But what elevates the whole spectacle is the delicious atmospheric soundtrack, and above all the actors; but while Adams and Gyllenhaal are good by default, Johnson surprises madly and gives his characterless boor a lot verve, as well as the amazing Michael Shannon as a detective, who once again shows that he is one of the most interesting dramatic actors of today... In their company, and under Ford's firm guidance, I'm looking forward to the next screening quite a bit. This film will mature a lot. (12/12/2016)