La fiera delle illusioni - Nightmare Alley

Bradley Cooper stars in Guillermo del Toro's remake of this story about an impoverished drifter who happens upon a carnival geek show. From there, he learns various magic tricks and creates an act of illusion that he takes to the city. Thereafter, he encounters more than he anticipated. Rooney Mara is his love interest and fellow circus performer, Willem Dafoe is lively and animated as the amoral carnival owner and Cate Blanchett is a mysterious psychiatrist with whom Cooper's protagonist crosses paths. Richard Jenkins is excellent as a rich tycoon with an immoral past.

Cooper gives a multi-dimensional performance that helps carry the film and he gets plenty of help; this film noir boasts a formidable acting lineup, stunning period detail and is handsomely shot, however its overall impact is greatly dulled by a running time that is way too long. Although it starts strong with an ominous first chapter and has quite a hauntingly bleak conclusion, somewhere in between the narrative loses its bite and thus ends it potential for greatness.

In addition to being overlong, Del Toro's work feels claustrophobic, a problem that his earlier films have been able to overcome more effectively. Overall, a film that could have been a masterpiece if it had spent more time in the cutting room. Some gruesomely violent scenes should be forewarned about. That being said, the film's final frame still lingers on. Recommended to viewers with patience and a strong stomach.

I liked Nightmare Alley at first. It's visually gorgeous and pulls you in with its ambience and bits of mystery. But at a certain point, where what I'd call the "second act" begins, I looked to see how much was left of the movie, thinking it was about the time in a noir when things really get going like a runaway freight train, and realized it was only half over!

I felt pretty restless at that point, in spite of Cate Blanchett's pitch-perfect performance. It wasn't so much that less time should have been used up in the first act as that every single thing should have been shorter. This should have had the brisk quality of classic noir, instead of the slow boil noir here.

The movie does finally go into runaway freight train mode almost two hours in, and that last part is intense and gripping and everything you'd want it to be, but really this whole movie should have been 90-100 minutes and a good finale doesn't erase the boredom I'd felt for most of the previous hour.

Del Toro's a terrific director, the movie looks amazing, and Blanchett is phenomenal, so I won't say skip it. I will say, lower your expectations and don't count on something worthy of the best picture Oscar nomination this got.

Great cinematography, acting, and well built story. A bit slow and somehow predictable, however worth it the time and the story and characters stay with you after leaving the theater.

LIKES

The Classy Dialogue: This movie's plot takes place in the 1940s, a different time of talking, culture, and survival instincts that we only can get a glimpse through storytelling. Nightmare Alley manages to help grab the class associated with the high society of the times and how one must speak in the line of Stanton's work. It's an art to designing the lines of not only the past, but also of the high profile of these characters and they did a marvelous job with executing the mannerisms and terminology required to bring the world to full light. It may seem small, but somehow that manner of speaking is a core component to the characters and helps set a lot of the mood for the climactic points of the movie.

The Setting: For a movie all about the dark entrances of the human psyche and manipulation, one has to set the stage for the "hero" to play in. Nightmare Alley accomplishes the goal for me on taking us back into the past where the carnival was a key element of life for entertaining the imaginations of the people. The setting in all acts is beautiful, attention to detail laced in the historical settings of the carnival and the niche that it provided for those down on their lucks. From the visualization of the under stages, to the harsh reality of life during the nights in those tents, you really become immersed in the microecosystem that carnivals were. Eventually the second act sets a new stage and again, the immaculate design of the buildings is gorgeous in the architecture that was once used during those times. The furniture, the clothing, and heck even the radios that were key to entertainment, all hold that antiquated appearance and help pull you into the deceitful world of Stanton's art.

The Acting: Again, a wonderful performance by many of the casted characters, and truly one of the hardest lifters of the tale. Nightmare Alley's star is of course Bradley Cooper, who manages to give another quality performance in the tragic case of Stanton Carlisle. Cooper has seemed to master the art of playing a convoluted character, a realistic human who gets placed into many opportunities and has to make a choice as to what path he will take. That evolution of the character into what he becomes seems to be easy for him, and he does a great job of giving all the emotional running required of him, really being the anchoring point of cast of characters. Cate Blanchett is back in a comfortable role for her, one of elegance, charm, and that dark class of something brewing within her that she sells so naturally. Blanchett's usual anti-hero demeanor from previous works fit very well int his tale, and alongside a wonderful look in the fashions of the time, she fit comfortably in her character. For Collette, the woman seems to have a niche with the darker tales, and this role can be described as Hereditary's bizarre belief with the realistic touch she had in Knives Out. I quite enjoyed her character's inclusion in this movie, a potential piece that held so much sway over Stanton's character, but not in the political way we see movies, but more of a natural character who was just living life. Colette's investment in making such a run of the mill character really stand out without the cheese factor, is something I applaud her for and only wished we had gotten more time with her during the second act. Yet another actress who should get top billing is Rooney Mara, the wonderful actress was hands down my favorite character of the film, who danced with Stanton through much and again had her own changes taxing her moral compass. Mara's work at being subtle and just living life through her character is stunning, and I loved that they utilized her natural beauty and grace in a role that was not extreme in either aspect. Again, I would have liked more time with her, but what time she does have paints the more angelic nature of the film for those who like a little light in their darkness.

The Story Planning: I have not seen the original, nor read any material it is based on, however for a movie by itself, this reviewer appreciates the wonderful planning involved in the detail. Like a lower key Ocean's 11, Nightmare Alley manages to give you a tale that shows just how Stanton became the person he became and uses a few styles that match what a first rate novel accomplishes. The first act is all about him learning the trade and the relationships he formed, while the second is all about the trade's application and how he made it his own, with many pieces explained and smoothly interspersed to make a linear tale easy to follow. Meanwhile, the pasts of many of our characters are baked in as well, sometimes in the form of a flashback, and other times naturally thrown into the conversation for us to pick up on. The writers of the book and screenplay managed to marry both worlds well and I quite enjoyed the level of writing the movie held.

The Visuals: We are not talking about the setting or costumes in this moment, but instead the camera and lighting that del Toro has integrated into his vision of the story. As always, the man plays with darker tales of humanity and his visuals also seem to dance around with these concepts as he brings the psyche part to life. From the eerie colors and ominous grey filter set over the moments of the carnival, to the polished and naturally lighting that other buildings bring, the lighting almost tells the tale better than the acting at times. And when key moments arise, he manages to get the right shot and lighting pallet to unleash the full momentum of the scene and give you the emotional kick that you just never knew you needed.

DISLIKES:

The Predictability: Despite all the elevation of the dialogue and the class, the tale was very predictable for me, lacking little twists and turns. The foreshadowing makes the direction so obvious, including the ending that I had down by the last thirty minutes of the movie. I had hoped for a little more of that del Toro intervention to help get that awe factor into the film, but that may have deterred from the source material too much.

More Time With Other Characters: This is a film about one man's dive into the "mental reading" components that were famous in the 1900s and they indeed do accomplish that task. Yet, there are several characters I would have liked more time in their perspective or more working with them than what we got. Toni Collette is of course the first one I mentioned earlier, and given the alluring character she played, I was hoping for some more time in her work with Cooper given the chemistry they were showing. While they did use her to great potential, I feel there was more that she did and hated seeing it cut out for all the other tales in this film. Mara as well could have had some more moments from her perspective, minor given how much he was ingrained in the second act, but still something was missing to fully link the bricks and drop the hammer on the tale. Yet, the biggest disappointment for me was Blanchett's use in this movie. For someone with top billing and the synopsis plot being there, she really is not the most utilized of the bunch for me and was surprised there was not more done with the power house of an actress that she is. I'll give them the scenes they invested held the power and mind games promised, but she was very much an accessory, with limited time on her shots happening from the shadows more than really investing into the moment. Quite disappointing to be honest and I would have liked to see more of her involvement on screen than off, especially with how fast the ending occurred. Speaking of which

The Pacing: Hands down the worst element of the movie for me is the pacing, particularly how slow the movie feels as time drags on. In the first act, it is not so bad, merely stuck in a few elements of time, but for the most part keeps things going in the study of the act. Sure, there are moments that are a little glazed over, or missing, but the tight focus on getting to the second act keeps it fine. It's that second act that really slogs through the mud, a convoluted mess of visits, walking through hallways, and these teases with Blanchett's character that slowly just circle to the obvious conclusion coming. It lacks the finesse of the carny scene, utilizes its characters to a weaker level, and by the final number has bored so much with the jargon I was starting to fight sleep to stay invested. Then the ending happens, and suddenly things are hastily sped through, and that full moment of the scene is sort of lost and underwhelming, ending on an artistic note that may not be as welcomed.

The VERDICT:

Nightmare Alley accomplishes much in the way it tells the story and the visualization of ta human nature tale with a slight "thriller" element to it. The writing is classy and layered to capture the high society and jargon of the time periods, with natural integration of story into human conversation. Acting wise, it holds a lot of fantas.

From the filmmaker who's always looked for beauty in the grotesque and whose fascination with horror, fantasy, fairy tales & monsters knows no bounds, Nightmare Alley marks quite a departure from his earlier works. While the story features a dark premise and the imagery is infused with gothic flavours, it plays out like a straightforward neo-noir psychological thriller and is devoid of the supernatural.

Co-written & directed by Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim & The Shape of Water), the first act does create an intrigue & mystery about our protagonist and what he may be up to but once the story departs from the carnival setting, the interest does start to fizzle out as it becomes evident where it's headed & how it's going to play out. It isn't necessarily a complaint but for a director of del Toro's calibre, more was expected here.

On the technical front, the film scores high marks with its sumptuous production design that brings its period setting to life in splendid detail. Deft camerawork & amber lighting also add to its noirish tone and the decadent score enriches it some more. Performances are where it delivers the most valuable goods. Bradley Cooper is committed throughout, plus his act only gets better as plot progresses and he is strongly supported by the rest.

Overall, Nightmare Alley is a perfectly fine example of its genre and will keep most viewers invested in its proceedings with its rich production value & impressive acting. However, the characters still remain distant for some reason and the story as a whole feels more or less underwhelming in the end. To sum it up, Guillermo del Toro's latest offering isn't without its charms and has a few neat tricks up its sleeve but nothing about it is original or refreshing.