“When you love someone you have to be careful with it, you might never get it again. ” – Edward
Number of Times Seen – 1 (8 Jan 2017)
Brief Synopsis – A wealthy woman gets a copy of her ex-husband’s novel where the main character’s wife is viciously murdered which causes her to fear for her life.
My Take on it – Once again, here’s a film that so many people loved and I just couldn’t connect with.
The premise itself sounds quite intriguing but not much is really done about the connections between the three stories.
The fact that this is a triple layered narrative makes the film lose focus too often.
The acting is great and Michael Shannon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are all fun to watch here.
I found that the story jumps around too much between the three separate narrative and loses much of its momentum and impact whenever it makes the change.
The best narrative of the three is the story within the story and it’s actually extremely unfortunate that they didn’t chose to just focus on that one and give us a film about that story instead of trying too hard to be unique.
Ironically, the characters in the story within a story narrative feel more real and energetic than the ones in the other two narratives that make us the full story of the film.
I’m still a bit shocked that Taylor-Johnson was nominated and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting actor for this film because Michael Shannon does an even better job.
Bottom Line – The premise here seems much better than it really is. The acting is great, but the triple layered story loses focus too often and lacks real form. The story jumps around too much between the narratives and loses a lot of its impact because of it. The best narrative is the story within the story and it’s unfortunate that the film just isn’t solely about that story itself.
MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Although he is known as a fashion designer, Ford chose to leave the costuming in the film strictly to the costume designer. Not a single Tom Ford product appears in the film, as Ford “didn’t want a commercial.” (From IMDB)
Rating – BAFTA Worthy
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Yeah, I wasn’t too fussed on it either! 😉
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I too thought the story was kind of bland but Aaron Taylor Johnson was incredible. He deserved the awards.
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I thought the book’s story was the most entertaining too. I also thought Michael Shannon was the best supporting actor here. For me, I didn’t love the film as much as the hype either, but I really was impressed by the narrative.
SPOILER Territory here…. Ye be warned… I think the book’s story is a metaphor for how Gyllenhaal sees Adams and their relationship. This interpretation framed the whole story in a different perspective. By the end, we see how he thinks of their future relationship. The book was like a middle finger to her. END SPOILERS.
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS was the right amount of complex for me, but there was just so many great movies this year that it didn’t crack my Top 15.
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