Nightmare Alley

A rare oddity. Del Toro finally closed his usual toy store and made his most mature film in a long time, if not ever. Nightmare Alley is a dark neo-noir beautiful ride full of strange individuals, obscured motivations and human hardships, all in a phenomenal, delectable visual stylisation, which is elaborated to the smallest detail. It is not a particularly pleasant viewing and some passages drag a bit too much, but it has its highlights and there are quite a lot of them. Surprisingly, the violence can be as intense and experiential as some of the dialogue and interactions between the main characters. Bradley Cooper in an unusual role, which he tackled more than competently. (2022-06-14)

I’m not fond of carnivals from the first half of the 20th century, with their bizarreness, the way their tormented animals and boasted about the deformity of disabled people, but the setting in the late 1930s and early 1940s suits me. However, I feel that the story and its plot arc is not so substantial to justify the enormous runtime. I would have cut the beginning at the carnival by half, maybe more, and nothing would have happened, leaving Bradley and Rooney Mara's reunion and , for the final (very funny, by the way) twist, the important monologue of the the demonic Willem Dafoe about how they recruit human scum to play the role of renegades who are locked permanently in a cage and eat chickens alive. On the other hand, if I were Del Toro I'd focus more on the intrigue in the big city, its grimness and depravity, because Cate Blanchett is a great femme fatale and the sparks between her and Bradley are electrifying. Overall, I enjoyed it, but a pair of scissors for the editor would have been really nice. But it's hard when you consider how much del Toro loves the bizarreness of the old fairs and carnivals, he must have felt like a kid in a candy store in their backdrop. (2022-06-17)

Guillermo has stepped away from his beloved monster(s) and with the grace of a visual perfectionist and a focused depicter of dark, bizarre and fragile characters, he has made the most mature film of his career so far. Nightmare Alley is a psychological drama about false pretense leading to a loss of one’s self, a visual retro pleasure with every shot, the camera gently floating even in the most intimate dialogue scenes. While watching Nightmare Alley, you will recall Browning’s classic Freaks, and your soul will be soothed by the delicate noir stylization and each of the actors’ performances, which adorn the film like a Christmas tree. The protagonist is the story’s worst character – a charismatic but inwardly depraved liar who manipulates the trusting people around him. In the surprising casting of Bradley Cooper, it’s all the more impressive and entertaining to see how splendidly the actor handles playing that character. (2022-01-26)

An epochal experience. It's very nice that we get such an ideal film even in the cloud of this year's Oscar nominations. Great stuff is drawn from William Lindsay Gresham's novel "Nightmare Alley" (1946), which had already proven to be a novelty when it was first adapted in 1947. Stylistically, it is a treat with classic film punctuation, the production design is absolutely art deco and the decadence of a circus setting and a wicked big city are combined. What more could you want? The acting roles, which are a given: Cooper, Blanchett, Dafoe, Mara, Collette... A decade earlier, Water for Elephants was a similar treat. And on TV, maybe Season 4 of AHS or the unfinished HBO series Carnivàle. (2022-04-04)

Nightmare Alley drew me to the cinema mainly because of the cast, the premise and, of course, the name of the director. Guillermo Del Toro's films are brimming with distinctive visuals and his latest is no different, aided by the inclusion of the film noir genre, where visuals are essential. I hadn't read the source material, nor had I seen the original film, yet I had a hunch in the first quarter what the outcome would be, thanks in part to its striking resemblance to the iconic Freaks. I admit that I may have expected more from Nightmare Alley, but I still enjoyed it in the cinema, even if it could have benefited from a slightly shorter running time. I was also expecting it to be darker and more brutal – not that I felt the need to see gallons of blood. Acting-wise, however, it was good, especially in the case of Cate Blanchett, but Bradley Cooper also played his part. Last but not least, I commend the likeable and mysterious soundtrack. Three and less than half stars! (2022-02-05)