Nocturno

The fourth and in my opinion best of the four announced Blumhouse films for Amazon Prime has arrived with "Nocturne". The film stars Sydney Sweeney and Madison Iseman as twins Juliet and Vivian. Both attend a noted music school and Vivian is a prodigy who has been accepted to Julliard upon completion of her studies.

Juliet had applied only to Julliard but was not accepted and this has caused issues with the faculty who had encouraged her to apply to other schools as well due to the 7% acceptance of Julliard and the longs odds of one or both of them being accepted.

When the top musician at the school kills herself, a spot to do a featured performance at an upcoming showcase arises and Vivian is asked to perform as she is clearly the next in line. Juliet comes into possession of a mysterious notebook filled with strange drawings that belonged to the recently departed former prodigy and she becomes obsessed with the drawings which seem to predict the future and in turn cause her to add drawings of her own to them. This starts a chain of events where Juliet sees a change in personality where she begins to covet her sister's talent, success, boyfriend, and more and begins a chain of events that will upturn their lives.

The film like the prior three Blumhouse Amazon films is not scary nor overly intense but it does have an engaging story and characters which will keep you watching and delivers an entertaining twist on films such as "The Competition" which depict the struggles and conflicts of aspiring musicians.

3.5 stars out of 5

I enjoyed this one, with the creepy faustian deal occuring in the background.

Though why this is so interesting is because they chose to leave things a little vague and open ended. I interpreted this movie in at least 3 different ways, maybe in 4 even.

At the end of the day it is hard to come across well shot movies with good plot beats, audio/music, and solid acting. This one covered the bases very well and has elements of horror woven into it, just enough to keep you on your toes.

The ending was damn creepy as well.

7/10 bravo, good watch.

The second of Amazon's Blumhouse collaborations I watched was "Nocturne", a debut feature from writer/director Zu Quirke which, not unlike "Black Box" eschews conventional horror, this time for more of a psychological thriller.

Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) lives under the shadow of her twin sister Vivian (Madison Iseman). Though both are talented pianists, Juliet's demeanour means that Vivian is graduating to Julliard but she is not. Moira (Ji Eun Hwang), their current schools most gifted student, takes her own life, which means the final concerts solo is vacant. Vivian seems the natural person to claim it, until Juliet finds Moira's notebook, a cryptic and dark series of notes, markings and illustrations. The book has an effect on Juliet, increasing her confidence, but how far is she willing to go to claim that solo.

As with "Black Box" I feel that there's lots to admire with this film, but little to love. It does feel like a budget version of "Black Swan", with its story of pressure are the higher end of artistic achievement. The performances from the two leads, Iselman and Sweeney, are really good. Art direction and cinematherapy are decent, the effects - such as they are - aren't bad - though it does help that they often aren't looking for realism, rather part of a fantastic dream type sequence. I do feel like I'm prepared to give the film a whole point for the final shot (to say anything more is a bit too spoilery).

But plot wise it's a bit too humdrum and predictable. You'll be well in advance of Juliet in terms of what is happening and you'll probably see the ending coming a mile off. There are a couple of minor twists that the film doesn't do a great job of disguising and it's all just a little too flat, and lacking in originality and invention to recommend it as worthwhile.

Negatives ultimately outweighed the positives for me, but at least there were positives.

This movie reminded me of Black Swan and Perfection, but was original enough to be entertaining. Without giving much away, I will say I would have appreciated a bit more explanation on the notebook or the origin of how it came to the first girl. I guess it leaves endless room and questions for sequels and prequels. There is definitely more there to be explained, and it was good enough that I would watch another one to find out more.

I was really drawn in by this film . I felt the relationship between the sisters was authentic and relatable. Music is cut throat and requires so much sacrifice , I feel this showed that really well- while still allowing the characters to be teens .

I liked the feel , the aesthetic and the plot . Hard to tell if this is reality or all in the mind of the main character and you never really get a good answer .

This is not a life changing film, but it doesn't try to be something it isn't and it leaves you feeling sad and empty which is what they are going for .