NIGHTBITCH (2024)
Starring Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Snowden, Emmett Snowden, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Ella Thomas, Archana Rajan, Jessica Harper, Adrienne Rose White, Roslyn Gentle, Stacey Swift, Darius De La Cruz, Nate Heller, Ella Thomas, Garrett C. Phillips, Adrienne Rose White, Michaela Baham, Kerry O'Malley, Michael Andrew Baker and Judith Moreland.
Screenplay by Marielle Heller.
Directed by Marielle Heller.
Distributed by Searchlight Pictures. 98 minutes. Rated R.
With all the talent that is behind Nightbitch – headed by Oscar-caliber actress Amy Adams and smart screenwriter/director Marielle Heller (her last two films were the terrific Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) – you want to hope that there is a smart and subversive idea behind Nightbitch. It can’t just be a weird high concept with no real payoff, can it?
And high concept it is. Adams plays an unhappy stay-at-home mom (her character is just named “Mother” in the end credits) who is feeling lost and useless, until she starts turning into a dog at night and running the streets with other mongrels.
You heard me right. She turns into a dog at night. Some sort of weird non-lethal variation on werewolves, I suppose. (Well, non-lethal to humans, she does kill several animals while in her canine state.)
Is this supposed to be a complicated allegory for motherhood? Is it a surreal feminist manifesto? Or did someone just come up with a weird story idea and run with it? (That someone would be Rachel Yoder, who wrote the 2021 novel the film is based upon.)
Honestly, I’m not sure. Nightbitch does seem to think it has some important knowledge to impart, but I’m not sure that I’m picking up on what it’s trying to lay down.
Which is a shame, because Nightbitch has some very affecting parts – mostly about Mother’s domestic problems with her young son and husband – and Adams has some very good moments in the lead. However, every time the film follows the dog-woman trail, the whole thing just screeches to a halt.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not this film’s audience. I’m a man. Obviously, I’ve never been a mother. And I’ve never been so upset with my lot in life that I have turned into a dog. Okay, I’m kidding on that last one, but maybe… maybe… this concept is more widespread than I would have thought. (I don’t think women are turning into dogs out there, but perhaps it is a shared fantasy.)
It just seems to me, looking at it from the outside, that there must be a more solemn way to look at post-partum depression, which is a very, very serious issue which deserves exploring.
Also very vital to her life and unhappiness is her fraying relationship with her slightly lazy and self-absorbed, but mostly rather kind husband (Scoot McNairy of Halt and Catch Fire), who she blames for the fact that she gave up her career in art to be a stay-at-home mommy. (They can’t even agree on the cause. He swears it was her idea, but she says it was his.) In fact, the husband seems much more open to taking responsibility and trying to negotiate their relationship than she does.
And finally there is the kid – who is a bit of a massive brat, honestly – and how Mother finds a way to deal with his acting out through their mutual game of being dogs. (Well, it’s a game for the kid, mom takes it way too literally.)
I know this is easy to say and is not taking into account what exactly Nightbitch is trying to be, but it seems to me this film would have been so much better and relatable if only they dumped the whole high concept about the dogs and spent more time looking at a family in crisis.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 6, 2024.
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