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.

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.

Over the past thirty years, Guillermo del Toro has directed some of the most haunting movies: "Cronos", "Mimic", "The Devil's Backbone", "Pan's Labyrinth" and "The Shape of Water". He now adds "Nightmare Alley", a disturbing look at a man's overconfidence.

Bradley Cooper plays a man who joins a traveling carnival but begins letting his belief in his own abilities get the better of him, especially after he starts associating with a morally ambiguous psychologist. Cate Blanchett's performance as the psychologist is what makes the movie, in my opinion. That and the production design create one of the most mind-blowing things that you'll ever see; it certainly earned its Academy Award nomination for production design.

I don't know if I would call this the year's best movie, but it's one of the most impressive. Along with Cooper and Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, David Strathairn, Mary Steenburgen, Ron Perlman, Richard Jenkins and a host of other people put on splendid performances. You should definitely check this movie out.

Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper); is a man trying to get by in late 1930s America in the new film "Nightmare Alley". Our first introduction to Stanton is less than flattering and he soon finds himself employed at a Carnival after coming upon it by chance.

The eager Stanton is given advice and tools of the trade by his boss Clem (Willem Dafoe) as well as the mystic Zeena (Toni Collette) and Stanton eagerly wants to get ahead. While striking a friendship with fellow employee Molly (Rooney Mara); Stanton learns that Zeena's older and alcoholic husband has a skill from a former act where he learns to read people and use verbal cues to appear to have the power of clairvoyance.

Eventually, Stanton seeks bigger opportunities and leaves with Molly for the city where they in time develop a successful act that offers them two shows a night at a fancy hotel and some of the finer things in life.

Unwilling to be content with what he has; Stanton becomes involved with a Psychologist named Lilith (Cate Blanchett) and uses her knowledge to set up higher-profile marks who will pay well for his supposed abilities and in doing so; sets a dangerous chain of events into motion.

The film is based on the 1946 book of the same name and an earlier 1947 film, and while it does an amazing job with the visuals and moody atmosphere of the era; it is a very long and slowly-paced film. The movie is over 2.5 hours long and comes across as overly long and self-indulgent as Director Guillermo del Toro could easily have shaved 30-45 minutes from the film and told the story without losing much.

The cast and performances are very good but a slow-paced and dour film is not an ideal way to spend 2.5 hours at the movies no matter how much it has going for it. The movie does have some good points but I think it will do much better on streaming and home video where audiences can pause and take a break.

If you are a fan of the Noir style of old; then this may be just what you are looking for, but I think it should have been so much more.

3.5 stars out of 5.

They should've stuck with the leaner, smarter ending in the novel, because boy was I sick of Bradley Cooper's overacting by then. Ironically, he's playing a character who's repeatedly told not to buy into his own hype, when he needs that lesson more than Stanton Carlisle ever did.

Everyone else is competent at least. I thought at first that Rooney Mara was miscast, but she's playing a very different Molly Cahill from the novel, and does so effectively. Most of the cast are too old for their roles, but I can overlook that. It necessarily deviates from the novel for length, complexity and the practicalities of filmmaking, but also some arbitrary changes that are never improvements.

What's missing is the grandeur and spectacle that keep even del Toro's lesser films from being dull. There are good performances, good visuals, but nothing achieves greatness.