"Nocturnal Animals"

Nocturnal Animals is a psychological drama/thriller directed by Tom Ford and starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film follows two narratives told side-by-side. The first concerns art gallery owner Susan (Amy Adams) as she deals with her failing marriage and her lingering regret over how things ended with Edward, her ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal). She receives a letter from Edward, asking her to read the attached manuscript, an early copy of his upcoming novel Nocturnal Animals. Thus unfolds the second narrative, that of the book-within-the-film, which starts off with Tony (also Jake Gyllenhaal) driving down a long and winding road with his family when they are accosted by a gang of three local criminals, who ultimately drive off with Tony's wife and daughter, leaving him on the side of the road, starting a nightmarish journey for Tony as he tries to catch up to the criminals.

The brutally bleak narrative of the book serves as a painful allegory for Edward's anger at Susan for leaving him, and the constant cutting between the horrific nature of the book's plot (reflected by Susan often being stunned and numb during the reading process) and the more mundane but no less heartbreaking nature of Susan's plot as she gripes about her guilt over the end of her relationship with Edward make for very interesting parallels, and gradually shows how Edward has a lot of unresolved anger that he directs at Susan by taking revenge on her through the emotional devastating book.

The performances from Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal (in both roles as Edward and Tony) are impeccable, Adams fully conveying Susan's regret and emotional torment caused by the book, and Gyllenhaal brings across just how kind Edward seemed to be before the breakdown of his relationship with Susan drives him to write a novel that he knows will cause pain to her, as well as the grief and pain that Tony feels when his family is taken and he is left hoping for justice to be served, leaving him a broken shell of a man. Tom Ford's direction is also excellent, effectively getting across just how empty both Susan and Tony's lives are with minimal exposition. On a side note, the opening sequence can come as quite a puzzling shock to first-time viewers, and if the intention was to get a reaction out of the audience, it certainly succeeded marvelously.

Nocturnal Animals is a brilliant but bleak psychological drama/thriller with two narratives centered by two masterful lead performances, and great direction from Tom Ford. If you like dark psychological-focused fare, you'll probably enjoy this, even if the pervasive sense of bleakness can feel overbearing at times. 10/10!