NIGHTBITCH – Review by Loren King
If there wasn’t already an embarrassment of riches in what’s shaping up to be a stunningly competitive best actress Oscar race, along comes Amy Adams with one of her most vivid performances to date. As a sharp-edged, frightened, feral and devilishly funny stay-at-home mom, called simply “Mother,” who descends from deadened domesticity into the titular canine, Adams should earn another Oscar nomination despite the glut of awards-worthy turns from the likes of Saoirse Ronan, Angelina Jolie, Mikey Madison, Renate Reinsve, Fernanda Torres, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Demi Moore, and on and on.
Adams’s riveting and relatable presence, in fact, sometimes outshines the film itself although director Marielle Heller crafts a skillful adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s dark satire of the same delicious title. Heller’s version has more humor and less graphic horror in the story of Mother who gave up her career as an artist to move from Manhattan to the suburbs and stay home with her toddler. She’s now sinking under the day-to-day demands of the two year old, despite his being adorable and how much she clearly loves him. Husband (Scoot McNairy) is absent for work most of the time and when he returns to happy shrieks of “Daddy!” he just doesn’t get what the big deal is; he’d love to trade places and stay home — if he didn’t make so much money. The implication, of course, is that not only are domestic and child-rearing chores undervalued and disrespected, so it the work of an artist.
This kind of satire and social commentary about women’s domestic fantasies/frustrations/madness is recognizable from a whole body of films, particularly those from the 1970s such as “Up the Sandbox” and “Diary of a Mad Housewife.” But “Nightbitch” then goes the black comedy/horror route which I found less compelling and even a bit tedious as Mother begins sprouting hair, plunging her face in a bowl to devour meat, and dashing through the streets in dog form although Adams remains utterly convincing throughout all of it.
