Rent Nocturnal Animals (2016)
3.4 of 5 from 1066 ratings
1h 52min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Susan (Amy Adams) is living through an unfulfilling marriage when she receives a package containing a novel manuscript from her ex-husband, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal). The novel is dedicated to her but its content is violent and devastating. Susan cannot help but reminisce over her past love story with the author. Increasingly she interprets the book as a tale of revenge, a tale that forces her to re-evaluate the choices that she has made, and reawakens a love that she feared was lost.
- Actors:
- Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber, Armie Hammer, Karl Glusman, Robert Aramayo, Laura Linney, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Sheen, India Menuez, Imogen Waterhouse, Franco Vega, Zawe Ashton, Evie Pree, Beth Ditto, Graham Beckel, Neil Jackson
- Directors:
- Tom Ford
- Producers:
- Tom Ford, Robert Salerno
- Writers:
- Tom Ford, Austin Wright
- Others:
- Seamus McGarvey, Yolanda Toussieng, Joan Sobel, Shane Valentino, Meg Everist, Abel Korzeniowski, Donald Mowat
- Aka:
- Tony and Susan
- Studio:
- Universal Pictures
- Genres:
- Drama, Romance, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 2017, BAFTA Nominations Competition 2024, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time, Getting to Know Laura Linney, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Amy Adams
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 13/03/2017
- Run Time:
- 116 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, German DTS 5.1, Italian DTS 5.1, Spanish DTS 5.1
- Subtitles:
- Arabic, Danish, English Hard of Hearing, Finnish, German, Hindi, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.40:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- The Making of 'Nocturnal Animals'
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Reviews (23) of Nocturnal Animals
Unpleasant, boring melodrama - Nocturnal Animals review by Alphaville
You know those pieces of conceptual art that have nothing to show beyond a concept? This is the cinematic equivalent, except that ‘cinematic’ it isn’t. Amy Adams lies around staring into space while the thriller she’s reading plays out for us in flashback. There’s supposed to be synergy between the two timelines, but the present timeline is too inane and boring to care about. There’s even a third unnecessary backstory shown in flashback.
The thriller timeline is the only one with any interest so you’ll probably give up on the others and try to catch that by fast forwarding to the interleaved clips of it. That said, it’s an unpleasant rape/murder story that salivates in the victims’ terror. Writer/director Tom Ford seems to like degradation. The film even opens with some grotesque obese nude dancing that may well have you hit fast forward immediately.
Rather than a thriller, this is more a slow-paced, forced melodrama, with stilted acting and dialogue. The only real success is the detective who investigates the murders. As played by Michael Shannon he injects a much-needed dose of reality.
Nocturnal Affairs reminds you of those bum-numbing painterly pieces Peter Greenway used to make in the 70s. It’s like a student exercise. On the DVD extras Ford explains the concept and, as with most conceptual modern art, that’s more interesting than the piece itself.
10 out of 17 members found this review helpful.
Can't wait to see again - Nocturnal Animals review by PT
I seen this film in the cinema yesterday. I loved it, period.
Amy Adams plays Susan, a successful art gallery owner surrounded by the decadence of her materialistic lifestyle. Ironicallly, this love of the materialistic which she once sought to a tragic extent, is now something that she views as not so important. Unhappy in her current marriage, her husband's business interests in a crisis, which he really cares about and Susan is indifferent, set the scene for her to receive a package out of the blue. The package is a novel by her first husband, namely Jake Gyllenhall, whom she hasn't seen for 19 years.
Susan begins reading the novel, which we see in her minds eye in movie form. This fictional film runs alongside flashbacks of her first marriage, and Susan's current life.
This film is deep and meaningful and had me thinking for ages after leaving the cinema, ah that means that, ah that's what Gyllenhall novel is referring too there and there etc. Adams and Gyllenhall are superb in this movie, also Michael Shannon, very memorable as the cop in the fictional story.
I know when I watch it again I will see and understand more on the second viewing. A real touch of class.
9 out of 11 members found this review helpful.
Emperor's new clothes - Nocturnal Animals review by CP Customer
This had me watching to the end, wondering what was going to happen. And nothing happens. It's all a con. Style over substance. The emperor is not wearing any clothes!
6 out of 9 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
Nocturnal Animals (aka Tony and Susan) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso
Based on based on Austin Wright's 1993 novel, Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals is a story that loves to get lost in its dialogue and decadence, for better and worse. At many moments the film will find itself being so caught up in its lingering scenes of tension, revenge, and bitterness. And for most of the ride, I found myself digging on a story that at times seems too spotty as it shifts between characters and worlds, fictional and somewhat real.
The reality we’re meant to believe is occupied by Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), a Los Angeles art gallery owner. She’s divorced from her ex-husband writer Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal) and now married to the cold and uninterested Hutton (Armie Hammer). Her life is dreary and uncomfortably quiet in the sterile world of her plush estate and open gallery. But then she receives a manuscript from Edward who wants her to take a look at it.
The world of the novel involves Gyllenhaal in a fictional story a Texas crime. Gyllenhaal plays Tony, a meek husband to his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and father to his daughter India (Ellie Bamber). They drive down the wrong Texas road at night and find themselves assaulted by a gang of no-good troublemakers led by the mustached Ray (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). A long and uncomfortable tailgating leads to a terrifying roadside chat where we know nothing good is going to come from exchanging insurance information. A kidnapping occurs and Tony finds himself escaping capture. He works with local Detective Bobby (Michael Shannon), giving Tony the chance to get the real justice of revenge he may very well desire.
Ford’s back and forth between the two worlds, split up when Susan can only read so much, creates an interesting contrast in the merging of these worlds, though not explicit. While Susan’s world is one of cold comfort where the biggest bickering is of infidelity and integrity, Tony’s tale is a dark, grimy, and violent one. There’s an almost fantastical nature to his story of detectives going crooked and gang members of rape most gruesome and psychology most unhinged. Taken on its own, Tony’s struggle is a solid piece of crime and revenge storytelling. But paralleling it with the writer’s ex-wife reading creates a remarkable juxtaposition. I enjoyed how anytime the violence and rape became too much to handle, Susan would take a break as much as we would and a more believable story of an elite’s first-world problems comes as a breath of fresh air. Through her perspective, the Tony world lingers and we want to return if only to find out what happens next and forget about the other world.
It’d be too easy to write off the picture as an uneven mixture of the avant-garde and a Southern thriller. The two work together greatly to weave an unease of the dreary existence and the fantastical world where things get worse but more intense. Adams and Gyllenhaal are at their best in performances they can really chew on with plenty of room to mount the drama and the bleakness of their situations. Ford’s direction lingers on the juiciest of scenes, letting all the violence and uncomfortable exchanges play out with the most engaging of scenes. There’s never a dull moment in the picture, even when it feels as though Adams’ world is filled with dullness and Gyllenhaal’s is one of cliches. The pairing of both makes us question each one a little more in a fantastic little rabbit hole to tumble down.