When Looking for Work, a Man Falls into a World of Dark Attractions

Rooney Mara and Bradley Cooper 
in "Nightmare Alley"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Guillermo del Toro loves his monsters and specters.  Whenever we see a movie from him, it’s always exciting to see what new and memorable creations he’ll bring to his latest film.  However, in movies like “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Crimson Peak,” and “The Shape of Water,” he’s used these creatures and ghosts as a way to explore the monster-like tendencies that can be found in humans.

Now, with the neo-noir psychological thriller, “Nightmare Alley,” he leaves monsters and ghosts out of the story and instead focuses on the violent and cruel actions of humans, making this his first movie to not include these horror entities.  As with his other work, his characters and settings absorb you in the dark, complex environments that he presents to the screen.

In the early 1940s, Stanton “Stan” Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) finds work helping at a carnival.  After honing his skill to con people as a psychic, Stan pairs up with a devious psychologist, Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), and the deceptions that they pull on others will soon have deadly consequences.

Cooper provides superb work as a man who, while always expressing glimmers of a troubled past, carries an air of genuineness and workmanship about him as we meet his character.  He gives his character a soft charisma as he tries to bond with the other carnies and make a living.  For the first third of the movie, Cooper has a charming, work-your-way-from-the-ground-up enthusiasm that hooks you into his arc.  However, once Stan reaches fame as a psychic, Cooper brings out the cunning nature of a showman who lets his newfound greed for success get the best of him.  We see the obsessiveness for trickery engulf him as he sinks further and further into bigger cons, forging an amoral path that shifts him into a much different person than to whom we were introduced.  Cooper excels at digging into every aspect of his troubled character, leading to an emotional climax that has some of the finest acting he’s ever accomplished.

Blanchett is engaging as a therapist who’s on the same level of deceitfulness as Stan.  She always has an expression on her face where you can see the gears turning as she contemplates her next move, keeping you on your toes as you wait to see how her connection to Stan will develop.  Blanchett has the look and persona of an actress from the film-noir era, which was when the original film from Edmund Goulding was released, creating a character who inhabits her environment to the fullest degree.  Lilith’s wrapped in a mystery that’s enticing to see unfold, and in true Blanchett fashion, she grips your attention whenever she makes an appearance.

Rooney Mara, who plays Molly Cahill, a fellow carny who soon becomes Stan’s assistant in his mentalist act, gives a wonderful performance as a young woman who has a love for the carnival and her coworkers.  However, as the movie goes on and she begins performing more with Stan, Mara shows Molly’s increased sense of conflict that she experiences as Stan’s act becomes more and more questionable.  She sees the unsettling changes that overcome Stan, and Mara is excellent in her emotional portrayal of an individual who has a love for performing, but realizes that this love is being poisoned by Stan’s growing greed.

The rest of the supporting cast immerses you in the carnival community.  There’s Toni Collette as Zeena Krumbein, a clairvoyant; David Strathairn as Peter, Zeena’s husband; and Willem Dafoe as Clement Hoately, the carnival owner.  But, the one who stands out is del Toro’s “Shape of Water” alum, Richard Jenkins, who plays Ezra Grindle, a troubled man who becomes a prime target of Sam and Lilith’s con game.  Jenkins gives Ezra a persona where he seems peaceful, yet a little unhinged, and you’ll be glued to this character as his connection with Stan becomes dangerous.

The screenplay by del Toro and Kim Morgan is a new adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name.  While the portion of the movie that takes place after Stan leaves the carnival has more intrigue and dramatic heft, the segment of the movie that comes before that should still be commended for giving us enough time to spend in the carnival setting and becoming acquainted with the surrogate family that accepts Stan.  The characters to whom we’re introduced offer a well-rounded glimpse into the strange world that Stan soon inhabits, and the details that del Toro and Morgan offer to entice us into this environment helps to prepare us for the intensity that comes later in the movie.

As mentioned before, the narrative also ventures into the idea of the monstrous nature of humans.  It’s an aspect that’s established with a bit of Dafoe’s dialogue, as the carnival barker tells his audience as they group together to see his attraction, “Is it a beast, or is it a man?  You're in luck, because tonight, you will see him feed!  Come on in and find out.  Is he a man...or beast?”  While this concept is meant to feed into Stan’s eventual predatory descent on his targets as a mentalist, it’s a notion that can be applied to more than one character, and del Toro and Morgan provide a complex view into this idea.  It all relates to the film’s other prominent theme of the horrible acts that people will commit in order to hide their truths, or to find out the truths of others.

Del Toro is one of the foremost directors working today when it comes to immersing audiences in the settings that he creates.  When he brings us into the carnival, the details that he includes not only introduce us to the environment itself, but the era as a whole, establishing a firm sense of place and constructing the noir aesthetic of Goulding’s version.  This is all with the help of cinematographer Dan Laustsen, who worked with del Toro on “Mimic,” “Crimson Peak,” and “The Shape of Water.”  Paired with Laustsen’s framing is the stunning production design by Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau, which excels in bringing to life the carnival setting in the first act of the movie, as well as using cold-color palettes throughout the film that work well alongside the noir camerawork, especially in the winter setting that arrives later in the movie.

Del Toro creates a disturbing parable that shows the unfortunate choices that people make that will take them through life’s darkest alleys and shows that if they’re not careful, it can be difficult to find a way back.

Grade: A-