Nightmare Alley: Film Review
Given the calibre of the cast involved, it’s surprising that Guillermo del Toro‘s Nightmare Alley performed so badly at the U.S. box office when it was released in December. It’s a shame because the film is quite good.
It tells the story of Stanton ‘Stan’ Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), who joins a carnival and learns how to fake being a mentalist from the clairvoyant act Zeena (Toni Collette). He eventually runs away from the carnival with Molly (Rooney Mara) and establishes himself as “The Great Stanton”, a popular psychic act with the social elite in New York. One day, his ‘powers’ are tested by psychoanalyst Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who subsequently teams up with Stanton to help him swindle wealthy customers by using confidential information from her therapy sessions.
This neo-noir psychological thriller, the second movie adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s novel, weaves a complex web of intrigue, mystery and deceit. It is incredibly dark and bleak and keeps you guessing at every turn. You know that eventually Stanton’s scheme will bite him on the ass but you don’t know how or when and it all comes crashing down in a surprisingly bloody and haunting way.
Unfortunately, it takes a very long time to get there. Del Toro’s film is two hours and 20 minutes and it felt even longer than that. Although I enjoyed the carnival portion of the film – the set looked amazing – we probably didn’t need to spend as much time there as we did. It lays the groundwork for what comes later but there should have been cuts somewhere and the first half makes the most sense. It is also very slow and tested my concentration at times.
It’s not a case of style over substance but the visuals certainly do a lot of the work. The film is set in the 1930s and 1940s and the production design and costume design are gorgeous and should win all the awards. The cinematography is stunning too – the film as a whole is beautiful to look at.
Cooper plays a mysterious and morally dubious man who seems happy to stoop to any level to con people out of their money. It’s a change of pace for the actor and he was a compelling lead. Blanchett has the most commanding presence as the alluring femme fatale. You know she has an ulterior motive and can’t be trusted and uses her sex appeal to manipulate Stan. The only truly redeeming character in the mix is Molly who simply wants a better life and gets unwittingly caught up in Stan’s racket. I must also mention the excellent Willem Dafoe as the carnival boss Clem and Richard Jenkins as Stan’s creepy client Ezra Grindle.
Nightmare Alley is a major slow-burner that does eventually pay off in the end – it just takes its sweet time getting there. The performances and the visuals are excellent but it needed to be much shorter.
In cinemas Friday 21st January