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Tag Archives: Laura Linney

Nocturnal Animals

04 Friday Nov 2016

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 81 Comments

Tags

2010's, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Amy Adams, Armie Hammer, Drama, Isla Fisher, Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura Linney, Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals, Thriller, Tom Ford

Film Title

Nocturnal Animals

Director

Tom Ford

Starring

  • Amy Adams as Susan Morrow
  • Jake Gyllenhaal as Edward Sheffield/ Tony Hastings
  • Michael Shannon as Detective Bobby Andes
  • Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Ray Marcus
  • Isla Fisher as Laura Hastings
  • Armie Hammer as Hutton Morrow
  • Laura Linney as Anne

I promised my readers in a recent post that I would be going the cinema more often so that’s just what I did. I went to see Nocturnal Animals, the second film by fashion designer turned director Tom Ford. And let me say, it is a fine drama-thriller composed with style and substance as it traverses through the effects of revenge, betrayal and violence.

Susan Morrow is a beautiful and successful Los Angeles art gallery owner, who specialises in avant-garde exhibitions. nocturnal-animals-posterTo look at this woman she has it all; a handsome younger husband Hutton, a swanky house and glowing career. But underneath the surface of elegance that she puts on, Susan is extremely lonely. Plagued by insomnia, hateful of the work she does that she refers to as junk and filled with jaded feelings, her life is clearly not as ideal as it appears. Out of the blue, Susan is sent the manuscript to a book entitled Nocturnal Animals, written by her ex-husband Edward, who she hasn’t spoken to in 19 years. Susan, bewildered by Edward sending the book to her and dedicating it to her, begins reading it while her philandering husband is away on business. The story is one of retribution and revenge concerning a family travelling through West Texas and being menaced by rednecks, who kidnap the protagonist’s wife and daughter. Susan imagines the main character of Tony as resembling Edward, clearly illustrating unfinished business between the two. nocturnal-animalsAs the tale progress, Tony takes the law into his own hands along with the no-nonsense, grizzled, Stetson sporting Detective Bobby Andes in an attempt to dish out revenge to the men who ruined his life. The brutal and desperately sad nature of the book disturbs yet grips Susan, who unravels emotionally as she begins to see it as a thinly veiled attack on her and how she ended the relationship with Edward, who she proclaimed as weak. Soon, Susan has to come to terms with what she did to her ex-husband as his book has a significant impact on former wife.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a film by someone with a background in fashion will be stylish and Nocturnal Animals very much is. At least however there is a lot of substance to this movie that displays Ford’s growing skill as a film maker, with his choices of shooting a movie this ambitious and delivering it with dark and toxic panache. Tom Ford shows that he contributes just as much to cinema as he does to fashion and can bridge the gap with stylish ease. And the way he paces the film as a slow-burning one suits the unwinding tales of darkness that we come to view. While Nocturnal Animals is splendidly lensed and filled with intoxicating imagery that will be difficult to swat away, it is the stories that unfurl that catches the eye as well. Sometimes films that have an arty look can descend into pretentiousness, but Nocturnal Animals is refreshingly not one of them as the narratives it creates and the execution of each are gripping without being confusing. jake-gyllenhaal-nocturnal-animalsThe three stories at play, the drama of Susan having her misdeeds laid bare, the southern revenge tale and the recollections of the past are all extremely well observed and presented. The editing between the three showcases the links between them and thankfully you are not left scratching your head over which part is the present, past and which is the fiction. It is almost like watching two films in one, yet the way that they dovetail in acerbic fashion and cast a spell, it is hard to tear your eyes away from the dark movie at play. There is something very surreal about watching Nocturnal Animals as it weaves together everything and through visuals, it brings out different shifts in genre and tone that are adroitly handled. For example, you have the grotesque opening at Susan’s art exhibition that reveals her inner demons and ugliness beneath the veneer that points to drama in her life, then within minutes once the book is opened, a lot of noir-like tension is employed in the violent tale of an ordinary man pushed to the edge until he is capable of brutality himself. nocturnal-animals-amy-adamsApart from the occasional languors, Nocturnal Animals keeps you watching as narratives unfold with certain symmetry( many shots mirror each other as momentum grows), that Susan becomes very much aware of. While physical violence is at the heart of the tale, there is the emotional violence inflicted on Susan as she is forced to evaluate her past that opens up like a gaping wound and threatens to drown her. At various points of the film, we see Susan dropping the book because it hits so close to home and the way the camera lingers on her pained face, says a lot about how guilty she feels about her treatment of Edward. It would have been a cheap shot to feature Edward in the present being pleased with his revenge, but thankfully Tom Ford jettisons that predictable idea by leaving him in the past, which only causes the impact his book has on Susan to heighten largely. Some may find Nocturnal Animals too stylised and a little bit cold, but that is to miss the level of attention the film has to each story and how they compliment the other by slowly meshing together. A lot of tension and suspense is given to Nocturnal Animals through the score, that swells and builds with the feeling of work by Bernard Herrmann and the music he provided for Hitchcock.

Amy Adams turns in an outstandingly nuanced turn as Susan, whose hollow, haunted and brittle existence is given a kicking in the guts by the book she receives that causes her to confront the bad past decisions she made. amy-adams-nocturnal-animalsAdams does so much acting with her face that is riveting to watch even when she is silent. You witness the sadness, pain and regret in those large blue eyes and it is quite something to watch how subtle her acting is as she gets right under the skin of the character. Adams has become one of my favourite actresses over the years, and with her turn in Nocturnal Animals, it displays everything I find riveting about her acting style and effectiveness. I wouldn’t be surprised if Amy Adams is up for many awards come next year for her exemplary portrayal. Jake Gyllenhaal pulls double duty by playing both the Edward from the past who was sensitive and the literary counterpart of the vengeful Tony. Gyllenhaal effortlessly judges the differences in the characters and makes each an individual, that still ties in with a certain duality that Nocturnal Animals has going in. From the wide-eyed and nice enthusiasm of Edward in years gone by to the boiling cauldron of repressed anger that is Tony, Gyllenhaal knocks both roles out of the park. Michael Shannon is one of the most versatile actors in my opinion and I always enjoy seeing him pop up in movies. It’s safe to say I was mightily impressed with his supporting turn as the gruff and embittered detective, who is the man who wants to see justice done for Tony and has had enough of all the horror he has seen that has gone unpunished. This weariness, as well as level of sarcasm is brought to the part with a sense of dark charisma from Michael Shannon. aaron-taylor-johnson-nocturnal-animalsUnrecognisable in the part of the sinister redneck monster who terrorises Tony and his family, Aaron Taylor-Johnson exudes such a grimy menace and psychopathic tendencies that you feel genuinely frightened by his strange presence in this unusual movie. You can practically feel the dirtiness of the character as it radiates off the screen with a malicious grin. Isla Fisher appears in a small but integral part of the kidnapped wife in the book Edward has written and the fact that she has a resemblance to Amy Adams gives another level of acidic side-swiping to the narrative as Susan is left reeling by what she reads. Armie Hammer does well with what he is given as the philandering husband, while a scene-stealing Laura Linney makes her presence felt portraying Susan’s nasty and bigoted mother.

Gorgeously shot, atmospherically rendered with skill by Tom Ford and excellently played by the cast, in particular Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal, Nocturnal Animals is a genre-bending movie that opens up a blistering set of stories that tie together with deft assurance and disturbing impact. Trust me, this is one of those movies that gets right under the skin and must be digested for all the impact and things it has in it long after viewing. Even as I write this review, I’m still putting parts together and remembering little bits that may have escaped my attention at first.

Absolute Power

09 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 43 Comments

Tags

1990's, Absolute Power, Clint Eastwood, Dennis Haysbert, E. G. Marshall, Ed Harris, Gene Hackman, Judy Davis, Laura Linney, Scott Glenn, Thriller

Film Title

Absolute Power

Director

Clint Eastwood

Starring

  • Clint Eastwood as Luther Whitney
  • Gene Hackman as President Alan Richmond
  • Ed Harris as Detective Seth Frank
  • Laura Linney as Kate Whitney
  • Scott Glenn as Bill Burton
  • Dennis Haysbert as Tim Collin
  • Judy Davis as Gloria Russell
  • E. G. Marshall as Walter Sullivan

It may not be a movie that breaks any new ground, but Clint Eastwood’s Absolute Power is a taut and tense thriller that is severely underrated and should be better known due to some fine acting and confident direction.

Luther Whitney is a smart and methodical cat burglar, who is also ageing. Deciding to do one last job, he infiltrates the wealthy home of prominent philanthropist Walter Sullivan. Absolute Power PosterYet this job proves to be much deadlier and dangerous than his previous work because of what he witnesses. The young wife of the Sullivan named Christy is drunk and cavorting with none other than the President Alan Richmond, yet this liaison becomes very dark as he becomes abusive and she attempts to flee. To Luther’s horror, Secret Service agents come in and shoot her, killing her. The President’s loyal fixer Gloria Russell then orchestrates a cover up. Luther manages to escape with a key piece of evidence. Meanwhile, determined Detective Seth Frank investigates the murder and while suspicious of Luther, doesn’t think he committed murder. Luther is all for skipping the country in fear that he will be discovered and possibly accused of the crime. But just as he is about to leave, he sees a new report detailing a press conference from Richmond in which he condemns violence in society and uses Sullivan as a way of sympathy. Enraged by this, Luther decides to stay and fight for justice. He enlists the help of his estranged prosecutor daughter Kate, who holds deep resentment for him but helps anyway as she is curious to see whether her father really cares for her. With both the police and the president’s men on his detail, Luther must stay sharp if he is to expose the corruption at the top of the political ladder while staying alive.

As a director, Clint Eastwood showcases confident and engaging direction throughout Absolute Power. I admired the way he knew when to slow events down to focus on the personal drama of Luther’s complicated relationship with his daughter, and then ratchet them up a notch to generate suspense and intrigue. The murder sequence and Luther’s escape are fine examples of this skill, as it builds up slowly but surely and then becomes heart-stopping and thrilling. Absolute Power Luther and KateAbsolute Power is very well-paced and doesn’t feel the need to rush events, rather it lets them unravel while still being riveting as we watch Luther outwit assailants in his hope to bring the President down. I’ve always found political scandals and cover ups fascinating and Absolute Power definitely reinforces that. The sharp script addresses themes of morality and corruption, while giving the characters some excellent dialogue to read. There are occasional implausibilities along the way, yet they can be forgiven because of how well-mounted and directed the movie is. Praise should go to the editing which compliments the dangerous journey and subsequent attempts to avoid being killed. An excellent score is further helpful in establishing the cat and mouse game at play.

Leading the well-established and talented cast is Clint Eastwood himself. He does a marvellous job portraying Luther, who is smart, efficient and not afraid to admit that he’s getting to old for the thieving business. Instead of the character just being a grumpy old man, Eastwood displays lightness of foot, wry humour yet also a code of moral conduct that means he can’t walk away from the crime he has seen. There may be no honor among thieves, but Eastwood’s character has a heart. As the corrupt president, Gene Hackman is an excellent choice as he conveys a slimy quality and the ability to use those around him for his own dirty work. The ever-reliable Ed Harris is on hand playing the determined but good-hearted detective, whose unconvinced that Luther is guilty of murder but curious to know what knowledge he has. Clint Eastwood and Ed HarrisHarris shares a particularly entertaining scene with Eastwood as he tries to get information out of him, but Eastwood bluffs and only offers hints with a dash of wry humour. Laura Linney fills her role of Luther’s estranged daughter with a toughness that belies inner pain at all the times her father wasn’t there for her as a child. Scott Glenn and Dennis Haysbert are fine as the Secret Service agents with different ideas about how to handle the scandal, Glenn being the one who feels remorse, while Haysbert is the ice-cold killer who asks no questions. Judy Davis is impeccable as the fixer who while good at her job fears that one day her worrying attitude will trip her up. And rounding out the cast in what would be his final screen appearance is E. G. Marshall, who is very as the philanthropist whose wife was murdered.

Tightly constructed and splendidly performed, Absolute Power is a thriller that is crafted with precision from Clint Eastwood.

Love Actually

26 Thursday Dec 2013

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 30 Comments

Tags

2000's, Alan Rickman, Andrew Lincoln, Bill Nighy, Billy Bob Thornton, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Joanna Page, Keira Knightley, Kris Marshall, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Love Actually, Martin Freeman, Martine McCutcheon, Richard Curtis, Romantic Comedy, Rowan Atkinson, Thomas Sangster

Film Title

Love Actually

Director

Richard Curtis

Starring

  • Alan Rickman as Harry
  • Bill Nighy as Billy Mack
  • Colin Firth as Jamie
  • Emma Thompson as Karen
  • Hugh Grant as David
  • Martine McCutcheon as Natalie
  • Laura Linney as Sarah
  • Liam Neeson as Daniel
  • Thomas Sangster as Sam
  • Keira Knightley as Juliet
  • Andrew Lincoln as Mark
  • Martin Freeman as John
  • Joanna Page as Judy
  • Kris Marshall as Colin
  • Rowan Atkinson as Rufus
  • Billy Bob Thornton as US President

Over the Christmas period, I only got chance to see a couple of movies. Love Actually happened to be one of them. I’m not the biggest fan of romantic comedies but decided to watch it because of the all-star cast. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Sure there were parts that were clunky and lagged in terms of pacing, but for the most part, I enjoyed it for its cosy look at romance.

love actually posterLove Actually focuses on various people in the run up to Christmas in London and how love affects them in different ways. We have Billy Mack, an ageing rock star trying to make a comeback with the help of his put upon manager. Harry, the manager of a designing agency who has his head turned by his provocative secretary  and whose wife Karen begins to suspect something. Jamie, a writer who vacations in a French cottage after catching his wife cheating on him. He begins to fall for his Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia, although he can’t profess his feelings as he doesn’t speak Portuguese. David, the newly elected Prime Minister begins to develop feelings for Natalie, a junior member of staff in 10 Downing Street. Sarah, a worker at Harry’s agency is left with the difficult decision as to whether she make a move on an enigmatic worker or care for her mentally ill brother. Daniel is grieving for his late wife while finding out about his stepson Sam’s crush on a girl in school. Mark records the wedding of his best friend to the stunning Juliet, who he has always adored but has never spoke. And the stories just keep on coming as love changes the lives of the characters in the seasonal time of year.

Writer and director Richard Curtis creates a film that is unabashedly sentimental but this does add some charm to it. With so many stories, Curtis manages to keep most of them interesting. Although some fall flat and don’t engage as much as the others. The whole segment with the character Colin, who travels to America in the hopes of attracting woman, could have been cut as it is funny in parts but a little needless in comparison to the rest of the tales on show. Also, some of the actors are not really used in effective ways to make them interesting to the audience. Martin Freeman and Joanna Page are both talented but their story of two body doubles falling in love never really goes anywhere.

Now, on to the positives of Love Actually. Despite being saccharine, it does have a bittersweet tone to various chapters. Mark’s pining for Juliet, who finds out when she watches the wedding video he recorded and finds it is composed of footage solely of her, is a bittersweet tale . This story may have its limitations in terms of character development, but is still an enjoyable segment none the less.  Out of the star-studded cast, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson and Laura Linney are the standout performers. Bill Nighy is absolutely hysterical as the washed up rocker attempting to reach Christmas number one. Emma Thompson is natural and moving as Karen, the wife of Harry who feels sadness for the fact her husband is attracted to his secretary. The scene in which she stands in her room, tears falling from her eyes after expecting to get a necklace as a present ( it is in fact for the secretary) , but instead receiving a CD is touching and melancholy to say the least. Laura Linney is luminous as the conflicted Sarah, caught between her caring side that wants to help her ill brother and her lonely side that wants love from someone. That isn’t to say the rest of the cast isn’t good, but these three stars are the ones you will most remember. Colin Firth is excellently suited to the role of Jamie, who is enchanted by his housekeeper. Liam Neeson managed to be warm and caring as the grieving father, helping his son as he feels the neglect love can inflict and he tries to impress his crush at school. Thomas Sangster excels as the pining Sam, head over heels for the most popular girl in school. Andrew Lincoln and Keira Knightley rise above the limitations of their tale to give us the now memorable scene of him professing his love for her through cue cards. Hugh Grant and Martine McCutcheon are good as the lovestruck PM and the junior member of staff who are drawn to each other in a reversal of the Notting Hill formula. Fun cameos are provided by Rowan Atkinson and Billy Bob Thornton.

It may be sentimental and cloying, but Love Actually does manage to warm the heart and doesn’t fall into the same old convention of everyone ending up happy. The fact that some of the relationships in the film don’t work makes it more interesting and not as clichéd as many a romantic comedy. Not for everyone, but cosy and festive viewing for romantics.

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