12/19/21 - Nightmare Alley (2021) - 7-/10
*** ORIGINAL NOTES AND POST LOST ***
A beautifully crafted and utterly fascinating dark adventure in the ever-seedy underbelly of old-timey carnies. Very much in the vein of HBO’s Carnivale, we are shuffled through on the shoes of a drifter absorbed and reborn in 1920s circus life, constantly dark, depraved, dreary, and wet. A world of mystery and mystique that truly only delivers answers to the universal faults of man. It’s a terrific period piece drama that has the creeperies and grotesqueries, physically and emotionally, that one would expect from Del Toro.
This is probably my favorite non-raccoon performance from Bradley Cooper. Both earnest and devious, cold but alive with the warmth of his wishes. A tremendously alive path down the darkness of the soul, with the requisite engagement and abandonment that brings the audience along with ease. Also, if there is a better ice queen in film than Cate Blanchett, I demand you make it known - damn is she steely, elegant, and fatalistically noir. Plus, head carnie barker Defoe: chef’s kiss!
From the color palettes, the staging, and repeating motifs that are pure nightmare evocations, Del Toro nails it. An alluring amalgam of the ideal and the insidious into a sublime sojourn down this shadowy and somber soul street.
