Movie Review: Nocturnal Animals

Courtesy of Focus Features Nocturnal Animals website

Courtesy of Focus Feature’s Nocturnal Animals website

Taylor Kalbaugh, Staff Writer

This movie is not your average love story. Of course it’s a sad tale filled with drama, but it takes a chilling twist when Susan receives her ex-husband, Edward’s, newest novel “Nocturnal Animals”. Focus Features latest movie based on Austin Wright’s book Tony and Susan, Nocturnal Animals starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal is directed and co-produced by fashion designer Tom Ford who surprised us all with his movie making talents again and previously made one other movie in 2009 called “A single Man”.

Susan is a wealthy art gallery owner and her husband Walker is a business man whom she is unhappy with. The movie quickly takes shape as Susan receives the novel her ex-husband wrote, dedicated to her. The movie presents three story-lines that go back and forth between Susan’s life, her flashbacks of her time she spent with Edward, and the books chilling tale. While three plots may sound hard to follow, all of the stories reveal how they intertwine with each other. The book twists into a take of revenge that takes Susan into her past to recollect the choices she made and how they affected her relationship with Edward. The ending, however, is not what you would expect out of such a thrilling movie.

Personally, I would rate this film a 3.5-4 out of five stars because the whole set-up of the movie was placed and intertwined together smoothly. It contains thrilling scenes that keep you on edge and whatever you think will happen, doesn’t. Even rotten tomatoes, which is known for its harsh criticism, gave it a 71%, and Google users gave it an 82%. For those who like gripping stories with skilled acting, this is a movie for you.