Film review: Nightmare Alley

Written by Aday Méndez and Lucas Pardo, Students from 4ºESO D

Nightmare Alley is a 2021 psychological thriller directed by Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. This film is based on a namesake novel published in 1946, and it features a great deal of famous actors, such as Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe or Rooney Mara, among others. This American film has been recently nominated to various awards, including 4 Oscars (Best Motion Picture, Best Product Design, Best Costume Design and Best Cinematography).

The film takes place in the 1940s, when a man called Stanton Carlisle (Cooper) finds himself in a local carnival. There, he meets a pythoness and her husband, a retired fortune teller, who introduce him into the world of mentalism and illusionism. After learning his first tricks and mind games, Stan realizes that there’s more than meets the eye, and that he can make a lot of money in the big city as a con artist. Along with his wife Molly (Mara), who he met in the carnival, he starts to live in style earning large amounts of money while his career starts skyrocketing. Trying not to lose control of his life, as his mentor warned him, Stanton teams up with a psychologist to swindle two of the richest men in town. However, he has yet to learn that all actions, no matter how safe they seem, have consequences.

As a film based on a book published in 1946 and being a remake of a film released in the following year, this work is very remarkable in terms of script solidness and narrative structure, due to the fact that there are no missing details on the story and there is no noticeable filling. It’s necessary to point out that the film might be too long for some viewers, because it lasts almost two hours and a half. However, this downside is related to another strong point that the film has, which is that every character contributes in some way to the development of the main character, and this helps everyone watching the film to never lose the thread and to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. Besides, there’s one characteristic the film has that stands out the most, which is the cinematography and staging work involved. It’s true that the cast did an awesome job performing their roles. However, the film’s biggest forte lies in its atmosphere and photography, no wonder it got nominated for an Oscar.

All things considered, I think that this film is a must-see for all thriller enthusiasts. This film is a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings, which makes it a worthwhile watch for almost everyone. Nonetheless, I feel the need to warn all families that this film cannot be watched by small children or sensitive people, due to the topic that the film develops, and the fact that some scenes can be violent for certain audience, so it’s necessary to keep this in mind before deciding to watch it with young children.