Aside from the confusion caused by her appearance, Adams is as good as she was in Arrival.

He had been Edward's best friend in school, when Edward didn't know he was crushing on him. More relevant is discussion of Susan's unseen gay brother, a bone of contention between her and her unaccepting mother. I haven't read the source novel but I suspect Ford added at least one of the film's two gay elements, a cocktail party conversation in which Alessia ( Andrea Riseborough ), reportedly based on Ford's best friend, tells Susan about the advantages of having a gay husband ( Michael Sheen ). If we hadn't worked so hard for two hours to keep track of Ford's juggling act, it would make it all worthwhile. The ending brings fact and fiction, past and present together in a way that makes sense and a point. One cut to Susan reading turns out to be young Susan reading something Edward wrote while they were married. This story would have made a better movie by itself, but Ford keeps cutting back to Susansometimes when she's reading it, which makes sense, but sometimes at random moments, like soaking in a hot tub. After it ends badly, Tony gets assistance from Bobby Andes ( Michael Shannon ), who is essentially the same character Jeff Bridges played in Hell or High Water: a Texas lawman coming to the end of the trail. It begins with a tense confrontation between Tony, his wife and daughter, and three rowdy rednecks who run them off the road. She's living the life her conservative, elitist mother ( Laura Linney ) wished for her, and hating it.Īs Susan starts reading Edward's novel, we see that story unfold. Susan owns an art gallery and has long been married to an outwardly wealthy but cash-poor businessman ( Armie Hammer ). The film, incidentally, is dedicated 'to Richard and Jack.' Richard is presumably Ford's husband, Richard Buckley but the way the story turns out, that may not be a good thing. The exes haven't spoken in 19 years, but Edward sends Susan a proof of his upcoming novel, Nocturnal Animals, which is dedicated to her. Tony has a beard for most of the film, but when he shaves it he looks remarkably like the young Edward. Adams plays Susan in both periods but any difference in her appearance is due to the amount of makeup she wears in a scene, not the age she's supposed to be playing. The 'real' story takes place in the present, but with flashbacks to 20 or so years ago. Tony's wife in the novel is played by Isla Fisher, who looks like Adams but isn't. But Gyllenhaal also plays Edward, the book's author and Susan's ex-husband. Susan ( Amy Adams ) is the reader, and Tony ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) is the novel's main character.

Two stories unfoldone in a novel being read by a woman in the other. Adapted by Ford from the Austin Wright novel Tony and Susan, it's far more complex than Ford's debut, A Single Man and the director's arty touches make it more confusing than necessary. Like a chef who's too proud of his special sauce, director Tom Ford makes it difficult to appreciate the meat and potatoes underneath in his second feature, Nocturnal Animals. This article shared 1703 times since Wed Feb 1, 2017

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