“NIGHTBITCH” (2024, 96 min., directed by Marielle Heller)
Amy Adams is a mother who thinks she may be turning into a dog in “Nightbitch,” the new movie from Marielle Heller.
At least, that’s what the novel the film is based on is about. “Nightbitch” the movie muzzles that premise in favor of something far more domesticated.
It’s unfortunate. The novel, written by Rachel Yoder and published in 2021, is a fiercely strange book about the animalistic behavior toddlers force out of their moms. The novel throws a lot of ideas at the wall in a brisk 250 pages. Not all of it works, but it’s a creative thought exercise at worst and fantastically thoughtful horror-tinged drama at best. In theory, the film adaptation should have been foaming at the mouth to make the dog moms’ or mom dogs’ perfect body horror satire.
Instead, Heller delivers a perplexingly normal drama about a mildly contentious marriage and a fairly energetic toddler, though spliced with a couple of slow-motion shots of running dogs. The direction, lighting, set design, effects and soundtrack all feel generic in a story that aspires to more. The movie is a brisk 99 minutes long, cinematic mimicry of its short source material, but lacks three-quarters of the same ideas.
The “all bark, no bite” line is a tired one, but it’s doubly appropriate here since Adams is predominantly playing a tired mom. The film has little to say but plenty to bark about, often in unrelenting, unnecessary voiceover, an unfortunate side-effect of poor literary adaptations. “Nightbitch” feels both afraid of exploring its core conceit and all too ready to over-explain it.
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The tragedy is that Adams was game for the undertaking but left restrained on a leash.
The scenes where Adams is allowed to pretend to be a dog are full canine kooky. The sequences where she’s a harried, exhausted mom are fantastic. It’s the fact that she shows her capacity to do so much more that’s frustrating about “Nightbitch,” particularly in a movie year with actual standout examples of middle-aged movie stars committing to gonzo commentary on the female artistic experience through over the top body horror. That’s a mouthful, but it’s in conversation with what “Nightbitch” the novel aspired to. “The Substance,” “Nightbitch” the film is not.
Instead, the film sniffs the edges of body horror without biting down.
There’s one brief episode featuring a back cyst that spurts hair and white goo. There’s another shot where Adams is given six additional nipples. There’s one singular transformation for Adams into the titular “Nightbitch.”
That’s it.
I’m less attempting to spoil the movie by detailing these moments than warning that the film itself is not interested in them. By the third act, “Nightbitch” seems to have forgotten the mother’s transformational angst entirely.
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What the novel communicates so well about its central metaphor is that the horror elements are there in support of the human drama, not in spite of it. For every scene in the book where the mother thinks she’s growing a tail or barking at strangers, there is much and more commentary on child-rearing, generational inheritance and relationship inequality. The horror elements in Yoder’s “Nightbitch” buoy those issues through that unique approach to their exploration.
Heller’s film, meanwhile, tackles its drama with a half-hearted attempt at adding in some dog stuff, resulting in generic domestic fiction with incongruous, mildly amusing interludes.
If nothing else, “Nightbitch” makes strong pitches for the difficulty of raising a small child and adapting a novel.
It’s just a doggone shame it’s tough to tell which one it thinks is harder.
Rating: 2/5
“MUFASA: THE LION KING“ (2024, 118 min., directed by Barry Jenkins)
The great James Earl Jones died earlier this year. The EGOT-winning actor left behind a trail of incredible performances on stage, screen and television, including a revered voice acting turn as the regal lion Mufasa in the 1994 Disney animated film, “The Lion King.”
The gravitas, grace and gentle humor the actor imbued his character with were such irreplaceable qualities that Disney hired him back for a 2019 photo-realistic remake.
That movie, critically reviled for the decision to substitute cartoon animals with their “live-action” and far less expressive counterparts was a massive commercial success, grossing $1.6 billion at the global box office. A prequel film, “Mufasa: The Lion King,” was greenlit shortly after and ultimately released this weekend, Friday, Dec. 20.
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The late Jones does not play Mufasa in “Mufasa.” He is replaced by a solid Aaron Pierre as the character’s younger counterpart. However, the actor’s legacy hangs heavy over the film.
Where Jones immortalized Mufasa as a deep, steady, constant voice of patient guidance, “Mufasa” the film is rickety, manic and anxious to declaw itself of any emotional heft.
Part of this is in the construction.
The prequel story is intercut with scenes of Rafiki, a wise old mandrill played by John Kani, relaying the narrative to a young cub and the gratingly obnoxious Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as “The Lion King” comic relief characters Pumbaa and Timon. These moments, mostly showcases for fart jokes and meta nods at the audience, are frequent distractions from the “real” film, itself wobbly and fast to move from moment to plot point like a series of “Lion King” vignettes.
That description would belie a far more interesting and abstract version of the latest Disney remake.
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Instead, “Mufasa,” meant to be an epic journey detailing an iconic character’s coming-of-age, is reduced to a confusing jumble of half-baked speeches, CGI lion scuffles and disappointing songs.
Disgraceful on its own merits and distasteful in light of Jones’ legacy, I recommend this “Lion King” be thrown into the nearest fur-lined dungeon.
Rating: 1/5