Film Review - Nocturnal Animals (15)

When you love someone, you have to be careful with it. You might never get it again.

Nocturnal Animals is both a fiercely original thriller and a deviously twisted love story. Right from its 'what-the-hell-is-this?' opening, this film does nothing you expect, wrong-footing its audience right up to the poignant final frames. By that time you'll have had your emotions wrung and your heart-rate accelerated by not one but two equally compelling tales.

Based on a little-known novel by Austin Wright, it introduces us to Susan, a Los Angeles art gallery owner, who should be basking in the success of her opening night. For all the trappings of wealth and a handsome husband, however, her life seems curiously empty. Then her attention is caught by a manuscript sent by ex-husband Edward - a novel called 'Nocturnal Animals'.

Along with Susan we are drawn into the book, starting with a family encountering trouble on a dark Texas highway. What follows is a story of blood and human passions that plays out on a bleak but beautiful rural landscape. Susan registers every shock along with us, the raw passion of the book a stark contrast to her own sterile existence.

To say how Edward's novel-within-the movie merges with Susan's life would give far too much away. Suffice to say that this is a film of both power and subtlety, which moves seamlessly between the two worlds, delivering flashes of brutality - physical and emotional. Amy Adams is impressive as Susan, her green eyes alive with shock and fascination, as she reads in the midst of her deadening LA sophistication. Jake Gyllenhall also delivers in a dual role as both the writer of the 'Nocturnal Animals' book and its central protagonist, proving once again that he doesn't do fluffy rom-coms. Not ever.

It's a film awash with great performances in fact, including Laura Linnie as Susan's appalling snob of a mother and Michael Shannon as an enigmatic Texan lawman. 

It's also a film that contrasts cruelty with beauty, whether in Susan's cold designer home or under stark Texan sunsets. This tale is gorgeously observed throughout, even in its most unsettling moments. The Texas scenes fizz with the promise of violence, while those in LA are steeped in melancholic blue. 

The camera misses nothing, but you might, in this mesmerising two-for-one story. With so many clues forming such an intricate puzzle, a second viewing might be required. I've already got mine planned. Yes - I'm ready to be moved and harrowed all over again, by this super-smart and stylish piece of storytelling.