NOCTURNAL ANIMALS

Keeping up with fi l m releases can sometimes f eel l i ke the entertainment selection on a l ong- haul fl i ght. Every movie starts t o blur t ogether, each one more nondescript t han t he l ast. Something something i n space. Something about a mother trying to have i t all. You f all asleep f or a bit. Something with Kevin James and a t alking squirrel. But then af i l m l i ke Tom Ford’s Nocturnal

Animals creeps up and shakes you wide awake. Fashion designer t urned director Tom Ford — whose 2010 debut f eature A Single Man was met with a deluge of award nominations and critical accolades —i s clearly a perfectionist of t he highest order. Starring a stellar cast, i ncluding Amy Adams

( The Master), Jake Gyllenhaal ( Brokeback Mountain) and Michael Shannon ( Midnight

Special), Nocturnal Animals i s part psychological drama, part t hriller and part magazine shoot come to l i f e.

It ’ s also unlike anything else I have seen at t he cinema this year.

Based on t he 1 993 novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright, t he fi l m navigates two main stories i n different worlds, both artfully envisioned t hrough distinctive sound design, colours and t extures.

One f ollows Susan ( Amy Adams), a grave and glassy- eyed art gallery owner who receives a manuscript of her ex- husband Edward’s ( Jake Gyllenhaal) f i rst novel i n the mail. Escaping her exceptionally glossy but deeply unhappy li f e, she paws t hrough t he novel — all t he while reminiscing about t heir young, f ailed relationship.

Creating af i l m within t he fi l m, t he horrific, blood- red events of Edward’s novel play out against t he clinical cool of Susan’s world as she reads. Jake Gyllenhaal explodes here i n his second role as Tony, a f ather f acing an unthinkable nightmare of violence, l oss and revenge.

Without giving i t away, an i ncident t hat begins on an open highway in t he middle of t he night evokes t he same everyday t error as Michael Haneke’s Funny Games.

Ford demonstrates mastery over t ension and pace, only releasing t he audience f rom his vicel i ke grip when we return t o Susan in t he “real” world, outside the book.

Nocturnal Animals also contains f urther evidence Amy Adams i s one of t he most magnetic actors of t he decade. “What ri ght do I have to be unhappy? I have everything.” She asks t hrough saucer eyes, undoubtedly a f eeling expressed by many i n Ford’s own opulent Guccimonogrammed world.

I would have l i ked j ust a f raction more ti me with her story, which i s dwarfed under t he ultraviolence of t he secondary plot.

Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a devastatingly raw performance as t he novel’s Tony, accompanied by a suitably grizzled sheriff played by Michael Shannon.

The supporting cast is t errific, f rom a bonechilling Aaron Johnson ( Kick Ass) as a l awless stranger to a Stepford Wives- esque Laura Linney as Susan’s high- society mother. Look out f or all the l eads when the Oscar nominations roll around. On t op of t he devastating, deftly t old stories,

Nocturnal Animals i s so beautiful t hat i t makes me want to run out and buy a pair of Tom Ford sunglasses j ust so I can f eel his artistry i n real l i f e.

From t he astonishing Cindy Sherman- style opening sequence to t he pulsing highways of

True Detective, t he well of i nspiration f or t he fi l m seems endless.

Knitting t he visual t apestry t ogether is a stirring score by Abel Korzeniowski, pairing swells and screeches to create t he heartbeat of the fi l m.

Nocturnal Animals t raverses li t hely across various f i elds of t he human experience, f rom l oneliness t o revenge, t rauma, t o an i ncreasingly disposable society.

I f you can l ook beyond the glossy veneer, you’ll discover something much uglier than a nice pair of sunnies and a pearl necklace.

In f act, you might j ust f i nd something absolutely phenomenal.