Nocturnal Animals (English, 2016)

Tom Ford’s screenplay is based on the 1993 novel ‘Tony and Susan’ by American Novelist Austin Wright. The interesting structure of the book involves two parallel timelines. How the second fictional story-line and characters reflect the events and characters in the Tony’s real world and how any creator creates art from real life events make an interesting watch. The nonlinear structure of the the real timeline and the linear structure of the fictional timeline creates the interesting effect of unraveling a jigsaw puzzle.

Amy Adams as Susan Morrow and Jake Gyllenhaal as Tony Hastings give a powerful performance. But it is Aaron Taylor Johnson as the notorious killer Ray Marcus whose menacing charm gives us the creeps. Michael Shannon as ailing police Bobby Andes and Laura Linney in a small but memorable turnout as Susan’s mother give the necessary support.

The mood of the movie – from the cinematography (choice of color tones for Adams and Gyllenhaal), art direction and the editing resonates with the story. The flamboyant yet sterile world of art dealers, the arid but earthy, raw & violent Texas roads contrast the two timelines and creates the right mood for both of them.

This movie brings together the director and the music director of “A Single Man” together for the second time. Abel Korzeniowski’s score here is as beautiful as their previous collaboration.

Tom Ford’s distinctive visual and narrative skill is underscored yet again here as he combines the visual bleakness with a lovely story-line. He expertly controls the way the viewer connects the dots between the multiple narratives. In fact, he bravely does not feed the ending but makes the viewer keep ruminating on the film to understand its theme.

There are bound to be many in the audience who would deem the finale to have left them high and dry. Yet it is tough to question that given the fact that it seems to be the intention of Tom Ford.