Nocturnal Animals opens with Amy Adams alone in a darkened living room, reading a manuscript her ex-husband has sent her. The book is a novel about a man named Tony, and it is violent, strange and specific in a way that unsettles her. She keeps the phone off, refuses to answer calls, and spends the night turning pages while her husband, played by Armie Hammer, waits upstairs.
That setup is the whole movie in miniature. Tom Ford directs with a cold precision, and he knows exactly what he wants from Adams, who plays her character as a woman who has spent years protecting herself from feeling. The film is about grief, memory and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. It is also about the difference between reading a story and living one.
Trailer, via Focus Features.
The Two Stories
Nocturnal Animals unfolds in two timelines. One follows Adams as she reads Tony’s novel, a story about a family chased across Texas by a mysterious threat. The other follows Hammer as Tony, who is being pursued by a group of men who want him dead. The film cuts between the two, and the novel’s violence mirrors the danger Tony faces in the present.
Ford uses color and composition to separate the worlds. The novel is warm, golden, almost nostalgic. The present is cold, blue, full of dread. The contrast is deliberate, and it works for stretches. When the two timelines collide, the effect is powerful.
But the film’s ambitions outpace its execution. The story about Tony feels rushed, with characters introduced only to be killed off without much build. The chase scenes are tense, but they lack the weight of the novel’s emotional stakes. The film wants to be a meditation on storytelling, but it keeps leaning on spectacle.
Amy Adams Carries It
Adams is the reason the film holds together. She plays the novel’s reader as a woman who has spent years burying her past, and she finds the exact right balance between brittle and fragile. Her performance is controlled, precise, and devastating in small moments. When she finally answers the phone, the scene lands because she has spent the entire film earning that moment.
Hammer is less successful. He plays Tony as a man who is brave but not interesting. His scenes are competent, but they lack the depth Adams brings to her role. The film asks a lot of him, and he cannot quite deliver.
The supporting cast is strong. Isla Fisher plays the wife of the man who is chasing Tony, and she gives the film some of its best scenes. Keith Carradine shows up late and memorable as a figure from Tony’s past. The film is at its best when it slows down and lets actors breathe.
What Works and What Doesn’t
| Element | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| Amy Adams | Controlled, layered performance | None |
| Armie Hammer | Competent, steady presence | Flat characterization |
| Color grading | Creates distinct moods | Can feel overwrought |
| Structure | Two timelines create tension | Chase scenes feel thin |
| Ending | Ambiguous, thought-provoking | Hard to follow |
The film’s structure is its greatest strength and its biggest problem. The two timelines work beautifully in theory. In practice, the novel’s story gets shortchanged. The film is more interested in how Adams reacts to the book than in what happens inside it.
The ending is a case in point. It is deliberately ambiguous, asking the audience to question what is real and what is fiction. That is a bold choice. But the ambiguity can feel like a cop-out, a way of avoiding the hard work of resolution.
The Chase Scenes
The chase scenes are where Nocturnal Animals stumbles most. They are tense, but they lack the specificity that made the novel’s story work. The film is full of action, but it never quite connects emotionally.
The schedule of the film’s major beats helps illustrate the pacing problem:
| Scene | Timeline | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Opening: Adams reading | Present | Early |
| First chapter of Tony’s novel | Novel | Middle |
| Chase begins | Present | Late |
| Climax | Both | Late |
| Resolution | Present | Late |
The schedule shows how the film rushes through the novel’s story to get to the chase. The result is a film that is visually striking but narratively shallow.
Final Word
Nocturnal Animals is a film of contrasts. Adams gives a performance that will be remembered for years, while Hammer remains a cipher. The two timelines create genuine tension, but the chase scenes undercut the novel’s emotional weight. The film is ambitious, and it often succeeds. But it fails to fully commit to either the novel or the present-day story.
Tom Ford is a director with a strong visual sense, and that comes through in every frame. But he is still learning the craft of narrative cinema. The film is a step forward, but it is not a masterpiece.
Nocturnal Animals is a flawed, fascinating film. It deserves credit for taking risks, even when those risks do not pay off. It is worth seeing for Adams’s performance alone.
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