Nightmare Alley (2021) Review

“I was born for this”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Some stories are better told the second time around. If you somehow don't think so, look at Nightmare Alley. 


PLOT


The 2021 film follows a similar path, but takes different turns to get there, so bear with me as I summarize familiar moments. The story takes place in 1939 and follows Stanton Carlisle begin a new chapter in his life by obtaining a job at a carnival, working with clairvoyant Madame Zeena and her alcoholic husband Pete (David Stratharn). They teach him coded language and cold reading tricks that pay off the act, but Pete insists not to use them to pretend to speak to the dead. When Stan later converses with the owner Clem (Willem Dafoe), he shares the secret of booking geeks, deranged men who eat live chicken. The truth is that he recruits alcoholics with troubled pasts, offering opium laced alcohol to stay. Knowing this, he intentionally poisons Pete with it afterward. With him gone, he continues the clairvoyant act, which keeps the carnival going. He uses his new skills to good use to convince a sheriff not to shut them down. He then falls in love with the ‘Electric Girl’ performer Molly, convincing her to leave with him. Two years later, Stan has become a successful psychic act in Buffalo, performing for the wealthy elite with Molly as his assistant. During one performance, he gets interrupted by psychologist Lilith Ritter, who attempts to expose him, but he is able to best her. He then cold reads Judge Kimball (Peter MacNeill), who requests private consultation for him and his wife Felicia (Mary Steenburgen) to speak to his deceased son. Despite Molly’s disapproval, Stan agrees to ‘help’ them. He does see Ritter again who agrees to share information on Kimball if he honestly shares his background. He does so by admitting to what he did to Pete, while also confessing to having neglected by his alcoholic father, who he also killed before leaving to the carnival. The act continues after a believable reading, but Judge Kimball introduces Stan to a patient of Ritter’s named Ezra Grindle. When Ritter gives him information on him, this would begin an intimate relationship and Stan would begin drinking. After a few sessions, Grindle demands to see the materialized spirit of a love he lost named Dorrie. This results in him having Molly pose as Dorrie, who only agrees to do it with the request to leave after cooperating. In the meanwhile, the Kimballs commit murder-suicide to reunite with their son, who Stan said was waiting for them. The act goes awry when she breaks character, having Grindle realize he’s being scammed. He hits Molly and when he calls his bodyguard Anderson (Holt McCallany), Stan kills both men. When he and Molly leave, the latter leaves on her own like she wanted. Now on his own, Stan goes to Ritter to retrieve getaway money and start over again. However, she rips him off by leaving him little to none. He intends to kill her, but chooses to flee when she calls the police. Having nothing left, he becomes a disheveled alcoholic. The film ends with Stan finding a new carnival and meets another carny boss (Tim Blake Nelson), only to get the job of a geek instead of a mentalist. 


THOUGHTS


The trailers originally did not impress me, so I was pretty skeptical going into this. Having said that, I am relieved to say that film exceeded my expectations. Director Guillermo Del Toro always knows how to make worlds immersive, which helps make the stories his own and it’s no exception here. This is part of what makes this film special, thanks to well crafted production design by Tamara Devell, compelling Nathan Johnson score and powerful cinematography by Dan Lausten because it’s a feeling that felt missing in the first adaptation in ‘47. The changes that were made by Del Toro and co writer Kim Morgan became a genius decision in the long run because it pushes the case in saying greed only creates temporary glory and the determination to seek power can blow up exponentially when overriding ambition. Undoubtedly, this is the case that the lead character Stan goes through and Bradley Cooper portrays him as a man too desperate to be on top of the world after struggling for so long. With such a motive, it becomes too easy for him to ignore every warning that came his way. Every time he reached one goal, he just kept going and couldn’t appreciate what he already had. Rooney Mara showed Molly to be one of the most sincere people he ever met and she loved him for his drive, but her compassion wasn’t enough for him to slow down. The only other people that came from the right place were Zeena and the strongman Bruno as both Toni Collette & Ron Perlman portrayed them as openly concerned acquaintances. Had he listened to just one warning, Stan would’ve not fallen so hard. It then gets worse for him when meeting an equal that took advantage of him the way he did with Pete. Care Blanchett was so bold as Ritter because she’s way more calculating in her skills. She enjoys betraying people in more ways than one and in such a time period, there was no way anyone could’ve expected it from her. That is why is was easy to usurp Stan as she did. Her tactics are what led to him going forward in conning Ezra and in comparison, Richard Jenkins made him also a more level headed person who had the right to be suspicious as long as he could until he was proven right. In fact, he was the real victim in this case because his death was far from necessary. Stan could’ve ran away without killing him, but he was too desperate trying to keep his secret intact. Because of this, it’s fitting that he doesn’t reunite with Molly after separating as shown in the original. It’s a more fitting conclusion to his arc because it was a reality check that came as consequential as many expected. And now, his loneliness is is his own doing thus claiming at the end he was born to fail. In short, 2021’s Nightmare Alley is a worthy Best Picture for being a revamped noir that feels smoother as you watch along. If noirs are your thing, check this out.