Review of Nightmare Alley (2021) by Bertobellamy — 29 Jan 2022

There are no supernatural monsters in Guillermo del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley,' but the real ones, those that live within us, are far scarier.

In this new adaption of the 1946 novel — about a carny that becomes a hustler and starts to make his way up with a mentalist show, and through lies and deception —, del Toro puts aside fantasy and horror to focus on a heavy drama about hope, power, and inhumanity (a theme that goes way back to his first films).

With 'The Shape of Water, the Mexican showed that he can direct actors as well, but I think this one is his graduation in that regard. Bradley Cooper, as the protagonist, and Cate Blanchett, as one of his associates, shine with a couple of performances that embody the evilness inside. Del Toro and co-screenwriter Kim Morgan take their time to build these characters, especially Cooper's, whose journey in the first part is the antithesis of the later one. Also, Dan Laustsen's photography is fundamental to support the neo-noir atmosphere that del Toro tries to build here. The use of shadows and lights is beyond amazing. The scenes in Cate Blanchet's character office exude seductiveness and mystery. Of course, the production design plays a big part. Hope those two things get Academy Award nominations pretty soon.

This is not my favorite del Toro film, but it's very satisfying to see how he plays with old Hollywood conventions to conceive a crude and very engaging tale about how corruption slowly but surely destroys a man that believes he's a god. Not in vain there are a lot of nazism references in here. Oh, and that final shot will be remembered for a long, long time. And a little more Rooney Mara couldn't have hurt.