Mini Film Review – Nightmare Alley

Yesterday I watched Nightmare Alley; and it was rather interesting! Directed by Guillermo del Toro, and starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, and Rooney Mara, and based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham; Nightmare Alley is a psychological thriller, about a drifter, who joins a local carnival, and works his way up the ranks, before then setting out to gain greater fame, whatever the cost! Nightmare Alley could be seen as something of a departure for Guillermo del Toro, as usually his films are a blend of gothic fiction, horror and fairytales, featuring strange creatures and monsters, whilst also highlighting beauty within the grotesque. Nightmare Alley is neither an epic fantasy story, or a heavy science fiction based thriller. No, it’s a plain drama, featuring people, being people. It’s a pretty simple approach for a del Toro movie. I frequently love the works of del Toro, but Nightmare Alley really struggled to keep my attention/focus. It could be the language that was used, which was sometimes hard to hear, or it could possibly be the length, as it is a very long film. But it’s most likely due to it acting like two seperate movies. The film works so hard at the start to set up the carnival, the characters in it, and the world around it. But after nearly an hour set in this location, and getting to know the characters, the narrative left this world, to journey to the city, and tell what felt like an entirely seperate story, which just happened to feature the same characters. And it was this view point where I struggled to stay engaged. It wasn’t really until the final act, that it regained my attention, only for it to end on a very predictable finish. Nightmare Alley isn’t  bad film, it’s just very different than what you come to expect from previous works of del Toro, so it’s a harder one to get into, and ultimately enjoy. But it does have it’s moments!