Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse.
Nightmare Alley is a 2021 American noir thriller motion picture directed by Guillermo del Toro, and stars
Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett. The story follows a grifter working his way up from low-ranking carnival worker to lauded psychic medium, who then matches wits with a psychiatrist with a dark plan.
UNDER THE LENS: VISUALS & CHESS
Visuals: Guillermo del Toro is known for his pictures being gorgeous with dreamy visuals that carry the viewer into another world. Dan Laustsen‘s cinematography is wonderful and it’s easy to see why Del Toro has worked with him on serval pictures, including Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water. The visuals guide the picture into serval genres, making it feel at times like it is a horror picture, then a noir, then a thriller! We get one scene of Cooper digging in a field with a wide shot of the carnival, and in the distance, we see storm clouds and lightning, it’s a great shot and further immerse the viewer in the story being told.
Chess: While Nightmare Alley at first seems to be a crime thriller, it is a psychological exploration of manipulation and one’s place in the world, it’s a chess game between its characters. All of the characters in the picture at one time or another were powerless and sought to not be. Stanton Carlisle is a man who has been beaten down by life, he seeks to raise his standing by any means necessary. By the end of the picture, we see that Stanton Carlisle is a pawn who thought himself a king, only to discover that he was only a piece in someone else’s game to checkmate another. It’s a devastating revelation, both to the audience and to Carlisle as he realizes that in his effort to get ahead he ended up losing everything that mattered to him.
HIGHLIGHTS
Cate Blanchett turns in a chilling performance as the pictures villain, cold calculating and ruthless.
The picture’s runtime is long and spends over an hour building the story in the carnival, while long it further helps to build the world surrounding our characters.
The saturated colors and over stylized look of the picture was fantastic.
QUOTABLE QUOTE
Stanton Carlisle: Sometimes you don’t see the line until you cross it.
SOMTHING TO THINK ABOUT
Was there ever a time in your life when you discovered you were being manipulated by someone? What did you do?
CONCLUSION
Overall Nightmare Alley is a gripping and disturbing psychological exploration of manipulation and the human condition. It’s anchored by strong performances from its cast and solid direction by Guillermo del Toro. It’s not a picture for everyone, it’s a dark, twisted, and nightmarish look at the depth of human depravity. Its narrative begs to be explored and dissected, it openly only tells the viewer part of the story, leaving the rest as clues to be picked up along the way, it’s a picture that begs for multiple viewings even if those viewings leave us uncomfortable.
