Review of Nightmare Alley

midlandsmovies • March 19, 2022

Nightmare Alley (2022) Dir. Guillermo del Toro


A never-better Bradly Cooper plays Stan Carlisle in Del Toro’s new mysterious drama which sees his character head to a colourful carnival to lay low from a dark event in his past, whilst eventually learning the tricks of the confidence game.


Quickly, he’s offered a job by manager Willem Dafoe who also has a circus “geek” show, a practice whereby he lures desperate alcoholic hobos to degrade themselves by eating live chickens for a paying audience. Cooper also catches the eye of Madame Zeena (Toni Collette) and her husband Pete (David Strathairn) who ends up teaching him cold-reading tricks and mind-games.


Cooper is certainly mesmerising in his performance and his natural on-screen charm soon attracts Rooney Mara’s Molly. Together they plan to leave their show-life behind for something greater in the big city.


The film is structured into two halves with the second seeing Stan and Molly develop a new stage act for a wealthy crowd. And despite warnings, he uses his sneaky talents to dupe families looking to connect with dead loved ones. However, Stan needs information to deceive his clients and strikes a deal with psychologist Dr. Lilith Ritter (a wonderful Cate Blanchett). She agrees to share private details of her patients in exchange for Stan’s honesty in sessions – and also receive a share in his profits.


The story continues with Richard Jenkins as Ezra Grindle – a powerful individual attempting to contact his dead wife – and the film uses noir tropes to keep the audience guessing as to who knows what – and on whom.


Cooper is both charismatic and engaging, whilst Blanchett gives her own spin on an updated femme fatale-style role. Together, the two’s chemistry leaps off screen and reminded me of the Hollywood stars of the golden era. And I don’t say that lightly.


The support cast is also superb and together they all help to create a living breathing world with Rooney Mara as the put-upon Molly being a particular standout. Dropping her somewhat regular “weirdo outsider”, Mara is entirely sympathetic as the frustrated wife dragged into schemes she sees as more than slightly morally dubious.


You don’t need to be a mind-reader to expect Del Toro’s visuals to be as equally glorious as the actors. He mixes sepia tones, carnival colours and intense shadows allowing the cinemaphotography to wind its own way through the thematic secrets and lies of the movie.


The art deco production style echoes the superficial high life whilst the grimy circus tents and sludge reflect the muddy morals the film plays with. But in many ways, the carnival is a far more honest place with attendees accepting of a circus’ intentions, whilst the tricks Cooper plays on the bereaved are presented as far more deceiving.


A relatively quick (and somewhat obvious from the start) ending is the film’s slight flaw but, to be fair, it also completes the spiritual circularity of the movie in a gratifying way.


So if I was a fortune teller, I predict you’d have a universally glorious evening of entertainment with Nightmare Alley from the outset. Through its moral mysticism and mesmerising cast, this homage to noirs of the past is a deep dark dive into satisfying cinematic manipulation.


★★★★½


Michael Sales

By midlandsmovies April 26, 2025
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer  Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/
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