With “Nightmare Alley”, Guillermo del Toro signs a high-flying scam in the land of illusions

THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – TO SEE

Welcome to nightmare alley, where a master of contemporary fantasy in the person of Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has rushed with great fanfare. Fine scholar, great connoisseur of literature and fantastic cinema, the author of Hellboy (2004), from Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017) presents a profile that begins to swear in contemporary Hollywood, transformed under the aegis of the Disney house into a “clone empire”.

His Nightmare Alley, first foray into film noir and exercise in over-varnished admiration, it shows. It is adapted from the famous novel of the same name, published in 1946, by William Lindsay Gresham (1909-1962). The author, who enlisted as a fighter on the side of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, which cannot displease del Toro who treated the subject in The Devil’s Backbone (2001), is a cursed writer, with three novels to the meter, early suicide in 1962. The director follows in the wake of the first adaptation of the book to the screen of 1947, The Charlatan, Brilliantly directed by Edmund Goulding, with Tyrone Power at his best in the lead role.

The narrative is of the “rise and fall” type. It takes root – like a tribute to the genius Freaks (The Monstrous Parade, 1932) by Tod Browning – in the itinerant and colorful universe of the fairground theatre, then branches off halfway through into the sophisticated urban swindle of high flight, with femme fatale in pivot.

At the center of the story, which takes place during the 1940s, Stanton Carlisle, played by Bradley Cooper. Coming out of nowhere, if not a possible parricide, he ends up in a troupe of showmen led by a sleazy and truculent director (Willem Dafoe), who is also a collector of vials of monstrous embryos, such as del Toro likes to slip them into his movies. Having instantly spotted his sense of confusion and resourcefulness, cardinal values ​​in these places, the chef immediately hired him as a handler. But Stanton burns with a mad ambition and undertakes to make his way, at any cost.

Beautiful baroque clocks

Three women, like so many stations, will be used for its elevation. The first is called Zeena (Toni Collette), partner of an old mentalist with a fake number, whose common code allows him to guess the biography elements of the volunteers who go up on stage. It doesn’t take Stanton long to get into Zeena’s tub, push the old alcoholic ad patres, grab the code, and pick up the number. Meanwhile, the beautiful and honest Molly (Rooney Mara), star of an electric conduction number, after a long resistance, falls into the hands of the smooth talker, who has become one of the main attractions of the troupe. He makes her his partner, then persuades her to accompany him to town to try their luck alone and aim for the heights.

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