”Under the cover of night”: ”there are no past lovers in the world”
You can meet the past in the most unexpected way - for example, through literature.The successful owner of a modern art gallery in Los Angeles Susan (Amy Adams) receives a strange and unexpected package from her ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal), with whom she has dramatically and long-term severed relations. The package contains his latest novel Under the Cover of Night , dedicated to his ex-wife. Immersed in a book about the worst, about what can only happen at night, the woman rewinds time and tries to remember when her life turned in the wrong direction.The second film of the famous couturier Tom Ford proves his own words that fashion is fleeting and cinema is eternal. If a well-directed drama "A Lonely Man" could still be perceived as an accidental luck or a fleeting hobby, then "Under Cover of Night" dotted the "i's": in the second half of his life, directing is perhaps more meaningful and creative pursuit, rather than working in the field of capricious and fickle fashion.  Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival , the film is based on Austin Wright's Tony and Susan . Ford not only qualitatively reworked the literary source into a movie script, but also enriched the psychological thriller with subtext and undertones. His intense noir drama is a non-trivial reflection not so much on the difficulties of family life as on the complexity of a creative union in a love couple and the obstacles that can easily destroy a fragile relationship. Under Cover of Night is a matryoshka film made of several layers: the present, the past and the fictional world of the manuscript read by Susan . All these spaces are reflections of each other. The heroine's memories of the difficult choice she made partly explain the current state, which is not fully understood even by herself. She almost does not sleep, does not experience the pleasure of either life or a successful career. Gradual immersion in a dark literary story unfolding on a night Texas highway, as the reader quickly realizes, is a bright and cruel allegory of parting with the past. Not her at all.  In these intertwined fragments of the plot, it is, of course, not only the timing of the action that is important, but also the place. The space of the film seems to be divided in two: on the one hand, it is sterile, rich, full of human-mannequins Los Angeles, on the other, Texas from the novel by Edward is a place of lawlessness, chaos and darkness. It looks like a situation if "Neon Demon" and "No Country for Old Men" became neighbors. The connecting link between the worlds is the heroine shining again this year Amy Adams . She acts only as a reader for a good half of the tape, and yet it is Susan that is the center where all the threads of stories converge, in which I would not particularly like to take part. Cruelty to a loved one in the past, like a boomerang, returns to her life. And one more question, what is more heartless in the end - betrayal or absolute indifference and even disgust for what is happening.  I don't want to talk about the actors separately, simply because they are good here in the ensemble: Gyllenhaal in the double role of the ex-husband-writer and his alter ego, Michael Shannon in the image of a principled Texas cop and Aaron Taylor-Johnson , a little improvisation on a Charlie Manson theme - all are good. Even a minute stay on the screen of Jena Malone adds charm to the world seen by the director. However, in spite of the literary principle, which will undoubtedly become apparent soon after the start of viewing, non-verbal, figurative and visual components turn out to be equally important for understanding the plot here. But even all this together does not dictate to the viewer what this or that scene carries, or what feelings one should experience from the action depicted on the screen.  However, you don't need to be Uncle Freud to decipher the psychoanalytic codes of this thriller. For lovers of the seemingly confused "Highway to Nowhere", Ford 's immersion into the darkness of the subconscious may seem quite understandable and not particularly deep. In general, "Under cover of night" is not that replete with references to classics, including the masterpiece of David Lynch, but makes its modest curtsy to her address. However, even without comparisons with standards, the psychological thriller about the vicissitudes of love and creativity looks very convincing and, which is important, original. By combining several layers of narration, Ford managed to achieve maximum involvement of the viewer, in front of whom the good old detective story with a dose of ultra-violence and a love drama unfold simultaneously, thanks to its effect on the lives of the heroes, it has grown into an existential drama.  The final of the film becomes a pleasant summary of everything seen - before us is not just a story of once ruined romantic relationship, but a powerful conflict of different approaches to life, strength and weakness, the relationship between the poet and the muse. Over and over again, someone immortalizes himself in art, sending the images he created to eternity. And the other is too frightened by the possibility of falling and prefers dead comfort to the romance of creativity. Who is stronger in this dispute is a matter of time, which puts everything in its place. On this subject, close to both the designer and the director Tom Ford , he spoke to the audience, giving them enough freedom to think, quite suitable to visit them sometime under cover of the night. The Topic of Article: ”Under the cover of night”: ”there are no past lovers in the world”. |
