Nocturnal Animals (2016)

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS  (2016)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Tom Ford
    Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon,
    Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber,
    Armie Hammer, Laura Linney, Michael Sheen
A dark-edged thriller starring Amy Adams as an art gallery owner who gets an unexpected package delivered to her office - a proof copy of a novel by her ex-husband, dedicated to her. As she reads the book, the film plays out on three tracks: the story of the woman reading the novel, the story in the novel, and the story, told in flashbacks, of what happened to the woman's marriage years before. Some of this is real hard to watch - after the first couple of reels, an empty highway in West Texas late at night is a place you'll never want to be - and some of Ford's images, like the opening shots of fat, nude women dancing, are just bizarre. It all has the effect of keeping you off balance, wondering, along with Adams, just what the novelist is up to, and never knowing which characters, if any, you can trust. The conclusion, a moment of withering realization played brilliantly by Adams, is as twisted as they come.