'Nicole' is intriguing initially in that we know the title character has been a victim of some kind of trauma, but the film is reaching for a horror-comedy tone that is wholly inconsistent. Too much is revealed up front -- alcoholism, deceased parents -- which could have been folded into the film later, and this is the problem; the front-loaded depression overpowers later attempts at black, screwball humor. If you were lured by the poster, the first quarter of the film is jarring, since you may be expecting subversive, horrifying comedy in the vein of 'American Psycho.'
The film concerns a young professional woman anticipating a hot date arranged online while not noticing other admirers caught in her orbit. That the predatory lothario is the film's first attempts at humor is part of the problem: Nicole's literally black-and-white life can't bloom into technicolor if she is too submerged in a black hole of routine and depression. But that's where the film's uneven tone starts to change, and not convincingly.
The black-and-white to color-film-stock changes signal different realities, but not consistently, though I don't wish to include spoilers here.
Tamika Shannon appears to be an actress to watch. Her monotone acting in the early scenes serves entirely to fulfill the script, which fails her, because her luminous moments late in the film show her true range. I look forward to seeing more from her.
But I also hope she'll find scripts that give us a chance to see her full potential and don't handcuff her into contrived plot moves.
