Congratulations on your new role!!! Writing weekly newsletters is a huge commitment, so I understand why you need to scale back. I’ll look forward to your posts regardless of frequency.
I too avoided Nightmare Alley, then loved it on HBO. It became the centerpiece of a substack post I wrote on Film Noir. Nightmare Alley is Neo Noir and blunts a lot of hard edges in classic 1940s Noir, which was so in the grips of WW II that it advanced the idea that a jaundiced cynicism was the universal condition. You might enjoy my take on the picture. You can find my post here:
I have a friend who used to work at a carnival and he had similar thoughts on "Nightmare Alley"! Beautiful, well-designed, ticks the mark on the scamming and the deceit. As always when compared to real life, he thought the NA world was too perfect and too 'contained' and del Toro glamorized it in parts when it shouldn't have been. I liked the cinematography and sound design of NA, and I think I definitely liked The Batman a lot more than you, but I think your critiques are fair and well-thought out!
The grimness does feel a little over done after the 2 hours and then some goes on, but I was really pulled along by the hope aspect and the realization of his newfound purpose at the very end (which, I will admit, I thought the movie ended at like 3 different times before the credits even rolled lmaooooo).
And congratulations on the assistant editing position! That's so awesome! Life happens and there is only so much you can focus on, but make sure to take care of yourself and your mental health :) I'm looking forward to the next newsletter you post, be it about a film or your life my guy!
Congratulations on your new role!!! Writing weekly newsletters is a huge commitment, so I understand why you need to scale back. I’ll look forward to your posts regardless of frequency.
I too avoided Nightmare Alley, then loved it on HBO. It became the centerpiece of a substack post I wrote on Film Noir. Nightmare Alley is Neo Noir and blunts a lot of hard edges in classic 1940s Noir, which was so in the grips of WW II that it advanced the idea that a jaundiced cynicism was the universal condition. You might enjoy my take on the picture. You can find my post here:
https://movieland.substack.com/p/film-noir-my-noir
I have a friend who used to work at a carnival and he had similar thoughts on "Nightmare Alley"! Beautiful, well-designed, ticks the mark on the scamming and the deceit. As always when compared to real life, he thought the NA world was too perfect and too 'contained' and del Toro glamorized it in parts when it shouldn't have been. I liked the cinematography and sound design of NA, and I think I definitely liked The Batman a lot more than you, but I think your critiques are fair and well-thought out!
The grimness does feel a little over done after the 2 hours and then some goes on, but I was really pulled along by the hope aspect and the realization of his newfound purpose at the very end (which, I will admit, I thought the movie ended at like 3 different times before the credits even rolled lmaooooo).
And congratulations on the assistant editing position! That's so awesome! Life happens and there is only so much you can focus on, but make sure to take care of yourself and your mental health :) I'm looking forward to the next newsletter you post, be it about a film or your life my guy!