Nightmare Alley: Vision in Darkness and Light. 2021. US. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Written by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham. With Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara. In English. 35mm. 150 min.
When charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena (Toni Collette) and her has-been mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival, he crafts a golden ticket to success, using this newly acquired knowledge to grift the wealthy elite of 1940s New York society. With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett)—who might be his most formidable opponent yet. The Vision in Darkness and Light version presents Del Toro’s film, which was released in color, in black and white: “Although we shot Nightmare Alley in color, we lit it as if it were black and white. You can see exactly the same level of design, and we wanted to give viewers this special vantage as a take of the classic noir genre that the film is part of.”