Now I'm one of those people who has become increasingly frustrated and disgusted with the state of the entertainment industry. It's been severely dumbed down and only caters to the adolescent market. True cinema is almost non-existent these days. I feel like you can't see a movie without gratuitous violence and contrived story plots. When was the last time a film MOVED you? I'd like to know. They're out there but they're few and far between. If you haven't guessed already, I'm fiercely passionate and am the face of the GPM Movement. My husband is revolutionizing entertainment across the board and is the throwback to the glory days of Hollywood. This is what we're bringing back.
Today I saw the neo-noir, romantic psychological thriller film, "Nocturnal Animals", written and directed by Tom Ford, based on Austin Wright's novel, Tony and Susan. Here's my two cents.
Quick synopsis: the film is about a seemingly successful Los Angeles art-gallery owner who, out of the blue, receives a manuscript (dedicated to her) from her ex-husband , all while dealing with the breakdown of her current marriage. As she reads the book, she is forced to look back on her past and the choices she's made.
Though it's one of the better films I've recently seen, it annoys me this is the best film out there in this current landscape. Though visually stunning and brilliant, Nocturnal Animals fails miserably in the story department. Tom Ford beautifully and comically showcases the pretentious high-brow LA art world and because he is a fashion designer, the colors and production design are spectacular. The film, however, is peppered with cliche/bland dialogue and characters lacking serious substance. Though I did enjoy Aaron Taylor-Johnson's character (he was unrecognizable and it took me a good 5 minutes to clock in that it was him!), I didn't particularly care about any of the characters which was a huge letdown. If I don't care about the characters, my eyes are already wandering. The melodramatic domestic scenes were frankly laughable because I wasn't sold on the authenticity of the story. The story within a story device was clever and there's MAYBE an IOTA of Hitchcock style infused in the high tension scenes, but I bet you Hitchcock's rolling over in his grave hearing any slight comparison of his work to this.
I wanted this film to be so much more but unfortunately it felt pretentious and like an overt satirical arthouse film. Watch it & tell me what you think. It will stimulate further discussion amongst its audience, and if a film can do that, how bad can it be?
