Nightmare Alley

Grade: A-

In 2018, director Guillermo del Toro earned a Best Director Oscar (and Best Picture win) for The Shape of Water, which presented a colorful, noirish, almost comic-booky world. And now we have his first feature film since then – Nightmare Alley, which I liked even better. It is reported to be more of a re-adaptation of the novel by William Lindsay Gresham than a remake of the 1947 film starring Tyrone Power. Film noir was prevalent in that time period. I’ve always been a sucker for the bold neon colors, sexy clarinet licks in the score, and characters never too far from a drink or cigarette, who speak with droll dialogue and smoke at each other, with the most beautiful billowing clouds. Del Toro’s 2021 Nightmare Alley dives into it with unapologetic unflinching abandonment. It is the best-looking movie I’ve seen this past year, and any technical Oscar nominations are well-deserved.

It takes every opportunity to lean into the noir, and seems to create opportunities to lean into it. Consider a scene early on, where the geek from the traveling carnival has escaped from his cell. They think he’s hiding out in the funhouse, so a couple of men go in and turn all the lights and attractions on while they search. It is a thinly-veiled chance for the director and crew to show off their technical prowess, but as a viewer, I was all in.

The movie opens with a man dragging a body into a hole in the floor, setting the body and house on fire, skipping town, and joining the carnival. His name is Stanton Carlisle, played by Bradley Cooper in one of his more multi-faceted performances. This character takes quite a journey. Stanton quickly learns the ropes and fits in, and becomes a convincing psychic, making people believe he has connections with their long lost loved ones in the afterlife. He takes a liking to Molly (Rooney Mara), a fellow carny. The feeling is mutual, they strike up a picture-perfect fairytale romance, and what I consider to be Act One ends with Stanton and Molly running away together to start up their own racket.

The next act takes place two years later, in 1941. I am always interested to see what happens after “happily ever after,” and there is trouble in paradise with Stanton and Molly’s relationship. There is more to the story, and more to the superb supporting cast. I haven’t even mentioned Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn, Tim Blake Nelson, Ron Perlman, and Cate Blanchett. The latter two were equally as memorable in Don’t Look Up, with Blanchett in particular playing two roles here that couldn’t be more different. She nails it as the quintessential femme fatale, and is like if Sharon Stone’s character from Basic Instinct were in a better movie.

The movie lost me a little at the climax. When we’re supposed to be feeling the stakes the most, I found myself not really rooting for anyone, due to their actions. But then, in film noir, there are no real heroes. It ends on a delicious note of irony and poetic justice. The final shot went on a few seconds too long for my comfort, but that was likely the point. Nightmare Alley is a dizzying whirlwind of double-crosses, who’s zooming who, and lots of smoking – and it’s a feast for the eyes. As an exercise in style, it’s a tremendous success.

Grade: A-