Woah-ho, talk about getting in under the wire with some of this movie’s last sessions in cinemas. Guillermo del Toro is at it again, bringing us the enchanting and spooky, and this time, it’s in the form of a crime noir. My initial reaction when I saw the posters for this movie was that this Nightmare Alley is going to have to work hard to bring a fairly outdated genre into the modern day. But with a cast like this behind it, and a name like del Toro, I’d back it in to have something fresh and meaningful to add to the conversation. It now has an Oscar nomination in its corner as well.
Stanton “Stan” Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) is a quite chap, who’s left behind some ugly business to find a spot working amongst a circus. He’s initially taken in by Clem (Willem Dafoe), the ringmaster of a freakshow, but he is really taken by Zeena (Toni Collette) and Pete (David Strathairn), who teach him their act of mentalism. Stan believes he can turn a stack of cash if he takes their act to richer halls, and with his dream girl Molly (Rooney Mara) alongside, that’s what he does, unaware of the dangers that follow if he pushes too far, believes his own hype, and turns simple parlour tricks into a ‘spook show’.
Well, the first thing to note is that this isn’t a crime noir, but more of a circus noir; it’s the rise and fall of a circus performer who hones his act before drinking his own bathwater… and I wouldn’t want to do that once Zeena’s had her hand in there. Suffice to say, considering the Oscar nod and some solid reviews, I’m probably in the minority when I say I found Nightmare Alley to be fairly boring. Why do I say that, you ask? Because it’s not really a story we haven’t already seen a hundred times before – an ambitious man flying too close to the sun, trying to get that one big elusive last score before he can give up his path to damnation, whilst also overlooking how good he’s already got it. It’s Icarus, and it’s the Billy Goat’s Gruff, and I read the latter in kindergarten. But not all movies have to be fantastically original, so let’s discuss what this movie does well – I love the production design. There’s something about the wonder and immorality of a turn-of-the-last-century circus, that is always alluring – that’s why American Horror Story and Heroes had seasons with circus settings; Carnivale was an entire TV show dedicated to it. With Nightmare Alley, it’s also the smaller things, like how the movie juxtaposes Stan’s journey in time through food – those runny eggs when he first joins the circus sure looked delicious, and I want eggs now; then Stan is living it up in a city hotel, ordering plates of food for his guests and having lavish breakfasts, before we understand that all he’ll be eating is chicken 😬 While watching the film, the cast just keeps getting bigger, and it’s always a hoot hanging out with the likes of Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Tim Blake Nelson, Holt McCallany, and I could go on. I’m really glad Mary Steenburgen got to shoot a man in the face; that must’ve been fun. But I think David Strathairn is really my favourite of the side-acts, along with Toni Collette, as they’re the only two who have been around (are older), and haven’t ended up turning wicked. They are the sweet dreams opposed to the nightmare… alleys.
I enjoyed the uncertain footing and unsettling feeling that permeates throughout the whole film. You know things aren’t going to end well for Stan, who keeps biting off a bigger piece of the act, and messing around with dishonest and dangerous fellows. I suppose it could have been a valid shock if he did get away with it; if the movie Gods’ karma hadn’t intervened, and Stan had walked away from his sins smiling. Ultimately, Stan’s demise hinges on Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) being a dirty rotten scoundrel, and when displeasing the right people, the world certainly does close in on Stan very, very fast. I found Lilith’s part in the ending to be an unexpected twist, but the signs were all there; tempting Stan to drink off her lips, and irking Molly, who is beyond reproach. Lilith gives a bad name to psychology too, that’s for sure, rubbing her patients faces during a session, and then framing them for psychosis; naughty. A funny little sidebar: at the true end, when Stan says the geek was the role he was born to play, it reminded me of the old man at the end of Water for Elephants, when it’s implied he’s running off to join the circus, he remarks, no, ‘…I’m coming home!’. Different scenes thematically, but pretty similar sentimentally, I think. Anyway, if you haven’t seen Water for Elephants, it won’t mean much to you, but you’re not missing much of anything.
So what can I take away from all this… be nice to people, and never try deceiving them, because in the long run, it’s never worth it. Beware the empty holes inside of us, widened by hate, and failed to be filled by pride and greed – get them fixed or they will destroy you. Personally, I’m not sure Guillermo del Toro is as clever as people think – with the Coen Brothers or Fincher, I can ruminate over their work for days. But listen to me; I’ll probably watch a Nightmare Alley analysis video and discover that there’s so much more hidden meaning under the surface that I missed, and I’ll be put in my box. But I remember leaning into the hidden messaging within The Shape of Water and not being too enthusiastic about what I’d just witnessed, so I don’t know. Between The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley, and what I can only assume will come with the animated Pinocchio movie coming out soon, del Toro seems to have found a home telling fables with extensively beautiful old-timey production design, and if it’s working, don’t stop. I may come around to Nightmare Alley, as it is competently made, but for now, it just didn’t connect with me.
3.0
P.S. Lo and behold, I’ve just discovered that Nightmare Alley is a remake of an old 1947 film. I’d really like to see the original now and compare them, to see where del Toro has taken liberties and where he’s stayed true. Anyone have a copy? Yet Wikipedia tells me that del Toro has said he’s based this movie primarily off the original novel by William Lindsay Gresham, that was given to him by Ron Perlman in 1992; interesting. Even still, along with West Side Story and Dune, this is an award season full of a few high-quality remakes.
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