Best Pictures #79: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Nightmare Alley (2021)

 by A.J. 

Best Pictures #79: 2021 (94th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Nightmare Alley (2021)

“Mister, I was born for it.”

I always look forward to the new Guillermo del Toro movie no matter the genre or premise. So much care and consideration and enthusiasm goes into every aspect of a movie that if it misses in one way, it still connects in another. There is always something interesting. This is true of del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. Even though I didn’t entirely enjoy it, I know I will see it again because so much about it lingers in my mind. 

Bradley Cooper plays Stanton Carlisle, a quiet drifter who lands a job at a carnival during the late 1930’s. He listens and observes and comes across as a blank. He learns about the carnival, the flashy side of showmanship and its dirty secrets. Zeena (Toni Collette), the resident psychic/mind reader, takes him under her wing. Along with her severely alcoholic husband (David Strathairn), a now retired mentalist, Stanton helps with her show, all the while picking up how they "read the minds" of the audience. Then he starts talking, finds a stage and romantic partner in Molly (Rooney Mara), finds success, and stops listening and observing. He should have quit while he was ahead, but that’s not who he is and that’s not the kind of movie this is. (If you stop the movie at a certain point about a third of the way through, it’s a happy ending for most of the characters.)

The production design, costumes, and cinematography have all received Oscar nominations which is no real surprise since they are all quite remarkable. The production design and costumes are everything you expect from a Guillermo Del Toro movie set in the 1930’s that takes place in part at a carnival. The whole film is filled with intriguing, memorable imagery whether it is in the rundown carnival (the least whimsical carnival you’ve ever seen outside of a proper horror movie) or the large open spaces of the wealthy. The cavernous office of psychiatrist Dr. Lilith (Cate Blanchett), with whom Stanton partners for a dangerously ambitious con, evokes feelings of discomfort and danger. 

This is a dark film thematically. The original 1947 version, directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Tyrone Power, and del Toro’s version both qualify as Film Noirs: exploring a dark, seedy world and its characters that proper, mainstream society turns away from. The 1947 version remains an effective, gripping, and intense movie despite the restrictions of the Production Code. It mixes in more humanity than the new version, making it more of a tragedy and giving it in some ways a more powerful ending. 

More than one source I found described the 1946 novel, written by William Lindsay Gresham, as bleak. This new adaptation, written by del Toro and Kim Morgan, does not shy away from bleakness. Both versions include the lowest of the carnival performers, the geek, who bites the heads off chickens or snakes. Of course del Toro’s version is more upfront and graphic about showing what the geek does and how someone becomes a geek. “Man or beast?” the barker asks the crowd. It is a man, of course, usually a desperate alcoholic who is manipulated into taking the job and then controlled by feeding his addiction. There aren’t many sympathetic characters here. Controlling the geek or looking the other way is routine for the carnival. Learning the tricks of mentalism, how to do a cold reading on a stranger and trick them into revealing details about themselves, is an exciting thing at first. Then comes exploitation and hubris. The world of wealthy socialites is not much different, just with nicer clothes. Guillermo del Toro has given us many movies about monsters that act like humans, now he’s given us a movie about humans that act like monsters. 

Nominees: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, Bradley Cooper, producers

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro & Kim Morgan

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Rooney Mara

Release Date: December 17th, 2021

Production Companies:TSG Entertainment, Double Dare You Productions

Distributor: Searchlight Pictures

Total Nominations: 4, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Cinematography- Dan Laustsen; Production Design-Tamara Deverell (production design), Shane Vieau (set decoration); Costume Design-Luis Sequeira