As handsomely mounted and slickly filmed as any period drama in recent memory, this grotesque foray into the depths of human nature and depravity is certainly something to see.  It is a remake of a popular and well regarded 1947 film of the same name with Tyrone Power, both based upon a novel by William Lindsay Gresham.  I have never read the book, nor seen the 1947 film, so I come to it fresh and unaware.  My reaction is that it is a nicely made film, beautiful and ugly to behold, but without much of a point.

Guillermo Del Toro’s film follows a secretive young man, Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), who finds himself drawn to a low-budget carnival, looking for a job during the war years of the 1940s.  His ambition and ability to read people allow him to gain a footing in the carnival community, eventually leaving with one of the female attractions, Molly (Rooney Mara), to begin a mentalist act on their own.  Success follows, leading the pair into private consultations with rich folk desiring to talk to their dearly departed.  Carlisle’s association with a mysterious psychologist (Cate Blanchett) results in a lot of money, but also a tragic confrontation, before Carlisle’s life circles back to its carnival roots.

It’s quite a tale, sumptuously filmed, with rather astonishing art direction and production design, enacted by a cast of the highest quality (Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Mary Steenburgen, Ron Perlman, David Strathairn, Mark Povinelli, Clifton Collins, etc.).  And I can see how this material would appeal to Del Toro, whose tastes reflect his fascination with the grotesque and the tragic.  But I really don’t understand what the point of it all is.  I don’t care to wallow in human despair and futility the way Del Toro seems to want us to, and there are moments of genuine ugliness in this story.  Moreover, most of the dramatic pinnacle moments are telegraphed ahead of time and are not nearly as shocking as he probably thinks they are.  The story’s conclusion completes the circle for Carlisle, yet it isn’t edifying in the least.

That this is now an Oscar nominee for Best Picture is perplexing to me.  I certainly admire how it looks, and the cast flexes its collective muscles with aplomb.  Yet I just wonder what it is all for.  There’s no sense of adventure or exploration that I felt; it simply moves from one phase of grimy carny life to a slightly tidier existence with each step.  And eventually we fall back into the grime.  That’s not enough to make the film satisfying to me.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  9 February 2022.