To begin with, there were two movies I was interested in seeing, but only one column to write. The first was Miss Sloan starring Jessica Chastain, the other Nocturnal Animals starring Amy Adams. Both are favorite actresses of mine, so I flipped a coin and it came up tails. I have since thrown the coin away; it made the wrong decision.
I will tell you the only reason I stayed and watched this debacle was a looming editorial deadline, else I would have walked out in the first three minutes. As the opening credits rolled on screen, the background showed a number of four to five hundred pound women, all totally nude, dancing and prancing around. After the credits were done, we were treated to more of the same, then a series of disgusting poses as they lay on tables, once again totally nude. Finally, as the camera backed away, we realized that the performance was taking place in some sort of art gallery, owned by Susan Morrow, played by Amy Adams. There was no rhyme or reason to the nude behemoths, apparently only for shock value. If, for some reason, you decide to see this movie, wait until the first ten minutes or so are over and save yourself from the horrors of that scene.
To add to the bad news, profanity reigned supreme throughout, every word you may have heard, and probably some you haven’t. Combine that with rape, murder, and plenty of violence and you have an idea of what is in store.
Nocturnal Animals
Entertainment Rating: ★
Rating: R (see comments)
Possible Oscar Nominations: None
To be fair, the plot had some creative thinking, beyond the morass of evil it portrayed. Morrow receives a book in the mail written by her former husband, divorced for close to twenty years. The novel is entitled Nocturnal Animals. She sits down with the book, and the story comes to life as she reads it. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Tony Hastings, the lead character in the book, who encounters some extremely difficult moments which leads to much of the violence and profanity.
From time to time, Susan puts the book down and we are drawn back to her life, and while her struggles are nowhere near as prolific as Tony Hastings, she has a myriad of issues, mostly personal, that creates a mood of sadness and hopelessness, much of it shown in flashbacks, which combined with the back and forth from the book, creates a Hodge podge of scenes.
The movie closes with another useless scene, although, thank goodness, there were no dancers.
Regardless of your political beliefs, you are probably better off watching your favorite cable news channel than wasting an evening watching this horrid film.
