Nightmare Alley

Movie: Nightmare Alley

Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design

How I watched: HBO Max

When I fell asleep: I did not

When it had me: Creepy carnival? Right from the start!

When it lost me: I don't think so.

What I have to say:

This movie was right in my sweet spot. Nightmare Alley has everything! Art deco, noir, fringes of society, Cate Blanchett, Bradley Cooper, murder! Ok ok, I'll watch! Most of all, it was very beautiful.

I loved getting a peek behind the curtain into the tricks of scam artists! We all feel like such mysterious tortured individuals, but in reality, we are very predictable humans with a fairly narrow and universal emotional breadth and life experiences. Those who are willing to see us through that simple template are able to prey upon our feelings of stark uniqueness and manipulate us with ease. Psychology can break down the common human experience and use it to help us see ourselves more clearly and help heal our wounds. And scam artists can monetize that knowledge and give us some degree of relief in exchange for a steep price. And if either can help us, should we judge which way a person gets relief?

This movie is a remake from the 1940s and based on a book. I enjoyed the inclusion of knowledge of trauma and the way it changes people in this movie (I'm assuming that's a new touch in Del Toro's version). Trauma gives some of us superpowers by making us hyper-vigilant and extremely in tune with the shifting, nuanced emotions of others. If you learned this as a survival mechanism, you might make a great mentalist too!

Nightmare Alley has a nice sense of tension and impending doom. I keep needing to edit myself in order to avoid spoilers, so let me cut this short!

If I could go live inside this movie for a day and just be an assistant to Cate Blanchett in her sleek art deco office, that would be the cat's meow. This is the only movie so far that I wanted to UHaul, so that's notable!