July 25, 2022 4 min to read

Nightmare Alley - beautiful liar & femme fatale

...femme fatale next to a brutal man in a cap

Nightmare Alley ²⁰²¹ © Searchlight Pictures.

I would rather call Nightmare Alley ²⁰²¹ not a remake of the 1947 film, as it is popularly positioned, but a new adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s debut novel. The author had the idea to write the book during the war, when he had long conversations with a fellow soldier, who used to be an employee of a low-ranking carnival. The novel was a real bestseller. Already a year after the publication of the book, the film was released, which also became a real hit.

Now in film production there is another wave of reincarnation of old ideas, which is almost the main argument in negative reviews, they say they are not able to come up with anything new, why do remakes at all!? I am happy when I see quality remakes, because really good remakes are a rarity, not a regularity. Such remakes as Nightmare Alley are worth doing. The same ideas were always reshot, after the opportunity to shoot color films appeared, after the appearance of sound in cinema, etc.

I won’t compare the 2021 version with the 1947 version, it’s like comparing a book and a movie. Without the 1947 film, the 2021 film could not exist as it does, just as it could not exist as it does without the novel itself. At the same time, the films are not categorically different, there was no global rethinking, as was in the case with King Kong ¹⁹⁷⁶, for example.

Nightmare Alley ²⁰²¹ Directed by Guillermo del Toro.

When watching, there may be misleading associations with The Prestige ²⁰⁰⁶ or even with Dumbo ²⁰¹⁹, but Nightmare Alley is a more depressing and realistic film. I think this is the most realistic movie by Guillermo del Toro, without magic, fantasy elements or monsters, rather a thriller that turns into a drama. Nevertheless, this is a film in which the director’s signature style is very clearly visible.

Of course, such a film cannot be considered a classic noir, although even the transitions through the black screen are reproduced here. But this is by no means neo-noir. This film is an even more pronounced noir than there were noirs in the 40s and 50s. The director managed to present the past in a slightly different and somewhat idealized aesthetic. What is worth only Lilith Ritter’s office - it is a separate kind of art.

Cate Blanchett and Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley ²⁰²¹

The star cast of the film is extremely pleasing. Of course, the most attention is paid to the hero Bradley Cooper, but this cannot be called the benefit of one actor. What kind of noir would it be if there wasn’t a femme fatale next to a brutal man in a cap…

Nightmare Alley ²⁰²¹, Cate Blanchett © Searchlight Pictures.

The film shows us the dark sides of people who are willing to do anything for money. The hero turned in the wrong direction, his intelligence helps him to hide the “skeleton in the closet”, but he needs to be able to stop in time, otherwise he can go too far. The film is not for children or family viewing, but the moral component is present, while this does not make the film banal.

Nightmare Alley ²⁰²¹, Bradley Cooper © Searchlight Pictures.

The presence of such a film in Hollywood and its success, both at the box office and creatively, suggests that Hollywood as a film producer is not going to retire. A large number of streaming services, mini-series with a closed ending (which can be called multi-part films) make Hollywood films change, primarily in terms of length. But despite this, the film can be watched with interest in one approach, the script has no stains and keeps interest until the last minute.

Nightmare Alley ²⁰²¹ © Searchlight Pictures.

In the end, I want to praise for paying attention to a lot of details, and most importantly, all these details work harmoniously as one mechanism and give us an exciting film as a whole.