Criticism: ‘Nocturnal Animals’, the suspense film forgotten at the Oscars

In the 2016 Oscars there were great films that took the spotlight, such as the explosive ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, the raw drama of ‘Spotlight’, or Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s masterpiece with ‘The Revenant’ . However, there was a thriller forgotten by the Academy’Nocturnal animals’.

There is a concept called “Oscar bait”, that is a work with very typical shapes and ways that is done only to win the great Oscar, and that often takes away space for others who deserve it. There are titles like ‘Green Book’ or ‘Moonlight’, to name a few modern examples.

However, there are those who believe that these have only ensured that other titles that have relevance are obscured and stored in the drawer of oblivion. Tom Ford, director of ‘Only a Man’ and director of the Gucci brand, debuted in 2015, ‘Nocturnal animals’, a thriller with Jake GyllenhaalAmy Adams and Michael Shannon, along with Aaron Taylor Johnson, and which is available on Amazon Prime Video.

What is the story of “Nocturnal Animals” about?

The story of ‘Nocturnal animals’ It is an adaptation of the Austin Wright novel., ‘Three nights’; and she tells the life of Susan Morrow (Amy Adams), a Los Angeles gallery owner married to Hutton, her second husband, with whom she has a marriage that makes her feel empty.

One day, Susan finds a package in her mailbox containing her ex-husband’s upcoming novel, Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal), which she hasn’t heard of for years. This premise opens the door to something much deeper and extremely close today.

Thanks to the incredible hand of Tom Ford, ‘Nocturnal Animals’ soon reveals its true nature, combining the David Fincher-style psychological thriller and the Neo-Noir cinema of the detective films of the new century. Thus creating a plot that with very few elements reaches tension, suspense and, above all, empathy for the main characters.

As she begins to read the plot of her ex-husband’s novel, the story moves through Susan’s mind and how she imagines what happens to her, playing a game between what happens on the pages and her life as a daughter, wife and professional. . With that anchor in the protagonist’s mind, she begins the real story.

In the novel, the story tells the case of a family traveling by road, when another car with three boys catches up with them, who start harassing them and forcing them to stop in the middle of the night and on the lonely road. The rioters realize that the father is traveling with his wife and daughter, who they take in the car and leave him in the middle of nowhere.

The novel’s protagonist is called Tony Hastings, who, after the kidnapping of his family, asks the town sheriff for help, who together with him will track down Ray Marcus, the man who together with his friends kidnapped his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, in real life, Susan begins to notice similarities in her relationship with her ex-husband and how it all ended.

“Nocturnal Animals” is an incredible thriller and suspense film that has won fans over the years, who discover it and claim it as one of the best suspense films of recent years. And that right now you can find it on Amazon Prime Video.