Movie review
November 4, 2016 · 116 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Nocturnal Animals is a 2016 psychological thriller directed by Tom Ford in which a wealthy but unhappy Los Angeles art gallery owner receives a dark novel manuscript from her estranged ex-husband that she reads as a veiled allegory for their past relationship, including her decision to divorce him and abort their child. The story-within-the-story follows a passive intellectual whose family is brutally attacked during a Texas road trip, prompting a violent revenge arc. The film contains no audience-visible woke elements such as forced diversity, activist dialogue, girlboss framing, or modern identity-politics messaging; its gender and success-culture themes remain personal, psychological, and traditional in tone.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Nocturnal Animals.
Woke representation / casting
Casting features exclusively white leads in roles that align naturally with the 2016-era Los Angeles art scene and rural Texas premise, with zero visible forced diversity, gender/race swaps, or identity signaling.
Woke political dialogue
No activist, political, or ideological dialogue appears in the narrative; all conflict and reflection remain strictly personal and psychological.
Identity-driven story themes
Gender dynamics and masculinity are explored through the weak intellectual protagonist’s violent redemption and the ex-wife’s life choices, including an abortion metaphor, yet these elements follow traditional cautionary storytelling without any push for modern identity politics or social-justice narratives.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The story critiques the superficial elite art world and the emptiness of prioritizing financial success over personal fulfillment, but this is conveyed via individual character regret rather than activist systemic critiques of capitalism, patriarchy, or cultural institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant; while the film significantly restructures Austin Wright’s 1993 novel “Tony and Susan,” there are no identity-driven reinterpretations, race/gender swaps, or alterations to legacy material for ideological reasons.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No backlash exists claiming the title promotes woke, activist, identity-political, or left-wing messaging; any gender-related criticism originated from feminist perspectives accusing the film of sexism or exploitative violence against women.
Creator track record context
Tom Ford’s earlier film “A Single Man” prominently features LGBTQ themes in an artistic context, providing mild context for personal identity exploration, though “Nocturnal Animals” exhibits no activist pattern or carryover of such framing.
Production
