Nocturnal Animals

After an anticipated wait, last week I finally got the opportunity to go and see the gripping revenge tale 'Nocturnal Animals' at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham. Produced by the extremely talented, Tom Ford, the film is his second feature film since the creative director delved into the world of filmography and it seems that this time round, as expected, he has far from disappointed his audience.

With themes of meta-mystery thriller, heartache and despair, the film, which was inspired by the 1993 novel 'Tony and Susan' by Austin Wright, offers a double staged narrative which continuously cuts back and forth between the reality and fiction of certain character's lifestyles. A film within a film, Jake Gyllenhaal takes on two roles in the story as he acts out the roles of Edward Sheffield who subtly yet cleverly torments the 'nocturnal' and ex-wife Susan, played by Amy Adams and Tony Hastings, a man whose family is harshly taken from him in the most traumatizing and physically brutal way. However, although the film depicts such scenes of despair and turmoil, it is definitely one that you cannot stop watching.

During the film I also admired the way that the production celebrated the freedom and excessiveness of American culture which was vividly communicated during the opening scene and the explicit art that scatters the walls of the art gallery; ran by the main character and insanely insomniac, Susan.

A film filled with tremendous flashbacks and the most uncomfortable yet artistically brilliant scenes, the synopsis is one that must be carefully followed. Although you may be left slightly confused and ready for a question and answer with the screenplay writer, Tom Ford, himself, the film is a definite must see due to its combination of chilling themes and Hitchockian aesthetic!