Nightmare Alley - Movie Review

Critics Score - 8 of 10

General Audience Score - 8 of 10

Back in December of 2017, a small oddity of a film came out that would go on to find an audience and gross almost $200 million worldwide, besides winning Best Picture and Director. The film was The Shape Of Water and the man that brought it to us was Guillermo del Toro. Four years and a pandemic later, we get his follow up film Nightmare Alley, a remake of a 1940’s film of the same name. Bradley Cooper leads an all start cast and while the film didn’t merit any acting love from the Academy Awards, these performances are all pretty fantastic. Guillermo del Toro has this character study and all it’s aspects completely under his thumb and executes the emotional beats with precision. The film drags at almost a two and a half hour runtime, but it’s so easy on the eyes, this movie is gorgeous, and the bit of excess time with these characters is spent with little regret. Most audiences will have a great time watching these stars and most critics and cinephiles will find the stunning visuals right up their Nightmare Alley.

SYNOPSIS - This nightmare begins with Stan (Bradley Cooper) dragging a body wrapped in a sheet across the floor and dumping it in a hole in the middle of a living room before lighting a cigarette and using the match to burn the place down. He then meets Clem (Willem Dafoe) who offers him a job at his sideshow where he quickly starts figuring out how to grift people and becomes taken with one of the performers, Molly (Rooney Mara). He trains with an act that uses specific tactics to read people, tell them things about themselves and convince them he’s a kind of spirit medium, able to speak to their deceased loved ones. Stan and Molly leave the sideshow happy and in love and hit the road to perfect their act and all the fame and glory that goes with it. Along the way they meet Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) who proves to be a valuable asset to Stan as he gathers information on people he’s looking to take advantage of. But there’s signs pointing to things not all being what they seem and neither we the audience or Stan can get a read on what they all mean.

Once Stan and Molly drive off happily into the sunset, we’ve come full circle in a tale that’s impeccably well crafted and executed. The film reminds me of The Power Of The Dog in it’s story intricacies and how everything ties together, the signs are all there along the way, but it works it’s magic trick and pulls the rug out from under you in the finale. While Guillermo del Toro directs this film with incredible precision, it’s just not quite at the level of Jane Campion and her film, but the comparisons of excellence are undeniable. This film is Power Of The Dog lite. It’s a bit more fun and relaxed, the performances are all great, especially Cooper and Blanchett, they’re just not quite as Oscar worthy as Benedict, Dunst and company. All in all this is a highly entertaining, meticulous and methodical piece of cinema that despite it’s flaws, makes this film is far closer to a beautiful dream than any nightmare.

SUMMARY - It was a bit of a shock that this film got a Best Picture nomination, without cracking my top ten films of 2021, it probably landed in the teens somewhere and I’m happy it got the recognition. Even with the screenplay not being as tight and with the plot dragging a bit due to an abnormally long runtime, make no mistake, there’s a blast of a good time waiting right around the corner and down a dark Nightmare Alley.