Tom Ford has one of the most fascinating journeys to becoming a filmmaker. After being the creative director for Gucci, Ford decided to turn his talents as a fashion designer into filmmaking. His directorial debut, A Single Man, earned a Best Picture nomination, and showed Ford to be an exciting and unique filmmaker.
After a seven-year absence, Ford has returned with Nocturnal Animals. The film follows Susan Morrow, an art-gallery owner whose life has gotten fairly routined. She is surprised one day to receive a novel written by her ex-husband Tony, with the novel documenting a violent tale of revenge and loss that connects with Susan.
Nocturnal Animals is an interesting project because its essentially two films in one. Half character study of a wealthy, yet depressed woman and the other half a violent tale of western revenge. These two halves make for a worthwhile experience, thought it’s not without its fair share of bumps in the road.
Ford’s transition into film continues to be a smooth one from a filmmaking perspective. His unique eye, along with the skills of cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, make for a great visual style. There’s an impressive attention to detail, with every frame having a detailed visual flair. Ford is a director who can make mundane tasks look exciting.
Making this ambitious effort come to life is one of the year’s most talented cast. While Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal are the stars marketed on the poster, its Michael Shannon and Aaron Taylor-Johnson that steal the show. Shannon as always is dazzling, with his cold demeanor and sharp-wit always making his presence welcome. Taylor-Johnson on the other hand is unrecognizable, stealing every scene he’s with a performance equal parts charismatic and menacing.
Much like The Neon Demon earlier this year, Nocturnal Animals in a lot of ways is genre filmmaking done with an arthouse flair. Most of the film takes place inside the novel written by Susan’s ex-husband, following a gritty tale of revenge and violence amidst the Texas heat. Combined with Ford’s visuals, the plot line is engaging and makes for most of the film’s highlight moments.
Where this film kind of falls apart is the fact it fails to be a sum of its parts. The concept of combining these two storylines works on paper, but the execution is a mess. The Amy Adams storyline ends up being a framing device for the novel, which makes for the meat of the film. While they are connected through obvious metaphor, the two fail never feel cohesive together.
Ford’s skills as a scribe have yet to match is ability as a director. Based off of Austin Wright’s novel, Ford’s efforts to adapt the novel is often times problematic. Both Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal are terrific actors, but give fairly modest performances due to not having much to work with. The film is intentionally cold and distant, but its finale leave its audience without any sort of strong reaction.
Nocturnal Animals fails to reach its lofty ambitions, but still delivers an engaging and stylish yarn throughout.