Movie Review: Nocturnal Animals

THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Hello readers,
With the Golden Globes nominees announcement made few weeks back, I shall start off with reviewing one of the potential films foreseen to be nominated at Academy Awards next year... and that is Nocturnal Animals. Nocturnal Animals is a film directed and screenplay by Tom Ford who many years back debuted with his other film, A Single Man. Unlike A Single Man which tells a story of a man who was coping with his life after the death of his lover, Nocturnal Animals takes a turn on psychological love and how two characters cope with haunting, strange connection and existence with one another.

Starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal in this neo-noir psychological thriller, the story tells a woman, Susan who is seemingly haunted by her estranged ex-husband, Edward's novel titled of the film name. In this film, we, as an audience member, is plunged into two worlds; one that is revolving around Susan and another revolving the characters in Edward's novel. In Edward's novel, Nocturnal Animals, the story revolves on a family who were on a vacation to somewhere when they were being stopped by a gang including a psychopathic charmer and leader, Ray (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson).

Rocking back and forth between the real and fictional world, Nocturnal Animals offers a beautifully crafted and eerily tale of loss, grief and love. Between shots as the story progresses, by understanding Edward's novel, we can therefore deduced and analysed the relationship and characterisation of Susan and Edward. During the entire film, we noticed that Susan and Edward have difficulty in their marriage where their interests and personalities conflicted with each other, including to the point where Susan's mother (prior to being married) even said Edward was incapable and not worthy of her affections. It sure was devastating that Edward tried his best to fix the relationship and Susan getting involved with another man, Hutton whom she later married to (and sadly what goes around, comes around).

Nocturnal Animals is a novel, a message to Susan that how much she missed out when Edward disappeared completely from her life since she doubt him. It was a hahaha to the woman, indicating he was able to write a novel filled with raw emotions and dark content - showing his creativity and what he had been through during the separation and estrangement. With the ending that captures the regret and loss Susan faced in the restaurant, it felt like a sweet revenge for Edward and I truly agreed she should face this consequence, although it is upsetting that she was left alone in the restaurant, waiting for him to showed up.

In conclusion, Nocturnal Animals is a stylish thriller filled with captivating emotions, shots (thanks to Tom Ford's brilliant 'observant' directing) and even great acting provided by Jake Gyllenhaal. Although Taylor-Johnson's portrayal as Ray was indeed scary as a spot-on psychopath (even to the extent, well deserved nomination at next year's Golden Globes), I felt Gyllenhaal should actually be part of the nominees at Golden Globes for his portrayal as Edward and Tony brings out the emotions in the film and helping us to understand Susan as she read the manuscript and reminisced. If you happened to be finding a film to watch, Nocturnal Animals is one that shouldn't be missed, especially during the awards season.

Ratings: 7/10 

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Letter to Myself

Dear Crissie,

It has been quite a year and you have been disturbed lately. You can't remember details like you used to, that foretelling dates and times become a lost paradise. To find something to give yourself peace is one's journey to rediscover what you have lost and unfortunately, things happened broke your reality and fantasy. You fell in love, betrayed, sinned and most importantly trusted. All of these things questioned yourself, are you a good person or not?

Although you are still discovering yourself, I hope this letter or a short note will help you along the way. You have a journal to rely on, so never losed sight of what could have been an opportunity. I hope you will stop overthinking and find positive on the situation and the people who cared. No one is against you, except yourself. You have been battling your past and why do you still hope it tightly? You left secondary school, the people who did you wronged have already become a better person and no one is conspiring, so why hold and bruised yourself?

Most importantly and the sad truth, you are on your own to figure out what happened. You can depend on people, but only you know yourself better and deeper. You see, if you think that everything is perfect, then you aren't seeing reality. The world isn't Instagram-filtered and so does people. While it is okay to suspect, please don't try to jump into conclusion until you have proof. He said that you jumped into feelings and also get involved in matters too emotionally, so please listen and trust me. I am no saint, but still at least I know what is happening on your mind. In fact, we are one and no one wins.

With much love and Merry Christmas,

Crissie

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Movie Review: Allied

THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Hello readers,

Today I will be writing a short review on Allied which starred Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard as an intelligence officer and French Resistance fighter, supposedly on a deadly mission to assassinate a German ambassador. While the mission was successful, the couple found themselves facing an obstacle where their relationship is tested and people are watching.

While Allied has garnered some attention during the height of Pitt's separation from Angelina Jolie and there were rumours involving him and Cotillard, the film was totally different from what people would think. Yes, both Allied and Mr & Mrs Smith are films involving spies and all sorts of missions, however Allied has its own flavour. Both Pitt and Cotillard were brilliant and their chemistry were on point. Their characters were happy loving and almost ordinary until the middle of the film, you could see the tension and the separation between them. I couldn't help but to observe the development of characters from beginning to the end, hence Allied was rather smooth and the whole characters flowed well, no gasps or awkwardness.

Like most stories that come from spies and espionage, Allied offers a rather dull story of one being suspected of being a spy and because of which, the whole story focuses on trying to find out whether this party was indeed a double agent. At such capacity of emotions and those shocking revelations, Allied brings my attention of how cruel it is be in a spy world. I meant to be saying that I can't imagine myself being able to do such daunting task where you are to figure out your loved one being a double agent or traitor. Therefore, to be in Max's position, I felt that this is asking way too much especially when it comes to your own spouse. All those suspicions... that was harsh.

In conclusion, Allied was still enjoyable to watch, especially when Pitt and Cotillard delivered wonderful performances that elevated the film to another level. Setting in such cold and gloomy 1940s, the film offfered a story which despite being a typical story, the emotions and the captivating revelation towards the end were enough to make me sympathetic towards the characters. I wouldn't exactly say this film is a strong recommendation to watch, but still if you are finding one to preoccupy your time, Allied is one of those films to see.

Ratings: 7/10

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