What I’m watching: a relative rarity these days, a movie for adults

Date: 12/27/2021

In theaters: “Nightmare Alley”

At a time when theaters are dominated by large budget epics and franchise movies, I marvel at the fact that director Guillermo del Toro’s version of the novel “Nightmare Alley” – first made as a film in 1947 – actually made it to the screen and made it into theater.

This is definitely an adult movie and I welcomed it. Don’t get me wrong, I watch enough of the Marvel movies, etc. and I enjoy many of them. This movie though is becoming more of a rarity: a movie from an accomplished director that tells an all-too-human story.

This is also a film noir that does not seem to simply be aping the classic films of the post-war era. This movie stands on its own as a great example of the genre.

Bradley Cooper is cementing his reputation as an actor who is unafraid of delving into the worst part of human behavior. His Stanton Carlisle is an enigma. Del Toro teases us with just enough information to tell us this is a desperate man. He yearns to be somebody, but it is clear he has no idea of achieving this goal.

That is until he wanders into a carnival quite accidentally and gets a menial job. He is attracted to Molly (Mara Rooney) who has a sideshow act involving her being shocked by electricity. While he may be sexually attracted to Molly, his real fascination is with Pete (David Strathairn) and Zena (Toni Collette) a couple who runs a mentalist act on the midway. They have developed an intricate code for their act that has enabled them to appear as actual psychics.

Stanton sees this as his way out of the carnival and into venues that would pay much more. He obtains the notebook, convinces Molly to join him and heads to the big city.

Two years later they have a lucrative gig in an upscale nightclub, but that all changes when a prominent psychologist Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett) tries to trip Stanton up.

Stanton sees what happens next as his ascending up the next rung of the ladder. He is wrong.

An Oscar-winning director and writer, del Toro has become celebrated for his fantasy and horror films ranging from his acclaimed “The Shape of Water” to the “Hellboy” series to “Pan’s Labyrinth.” He is a master craftsman whose films are as much as creating unique words as well as telling compelling stories.

I’m sure some people will make cracks about the fact he is making a “serious” movie, but they clearly are not aware of the kind of films he has created.

I see this film as a continuation of his fascination with stories and characters on the edge of their society. Stanton is essentially invisible to the people who attend the carnival. In fact, all of the performers and workers are not seen as actual people by their audiences. Unlike his carnival colleagues, Stanton, though, instinctively yearns for something better.

We don’t have his complete backstory and I think del Toro was wise in giving us just enough to understand Stanton’s anger and despair, the qualities that fuel his rise beyond the carnival.

Del Toro takes his time with the story as the film is two and a half hours long, but it moves well with each scene building on the next. I think del Toro really wants audiences to see enough of Stanton to understand his actions and to give Cooper the time to truly create a tragic figure.

Set in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the look of the film is outstanding with an appropriately grimy carnival setting that compares with the opulent world in which Stanton operates in the second half of the film.

Del Toro has used several actors from his informal stock company including Ron Perlman as the carnival strong man and Molly’s protector, as well as Richard Jenkins as the ominous Ezra Grindle. No one plays sleazy as well as Willem Dafoe as the carnival’s owner and Collette and Strathairn shine as the mentalists.

Rooney provides a moral and ethical center to the film, someone who is genuinely motivated by love, while Blanchett sets a new standard in iciness as the psychologist.

There are some moments of violence in the film, but del Toro shows great restraint in how he depicts violence so what is shown is truly unnerving.

With this holiday movie season as generally reserved for blockbusters, I’d advise seeing this film as soon as you can. It may not be in theaters for long.