Elliott Lester's Nightingale opens inside a seemingly normal house, where Peter Snowden talks into the camera lens, expressing frustration over his mother, whom he lives with. He frantically explains that he has "snapped' due to another heated argument with his mother, seemingly apologetic to something he has done. Taking place completely in the confines of this small, ranch home, Elliott Lester's Nightingale features a tour-de-force level performance by David Oyelowo that examines a character who is battling with mental distress. Peter is a character who has become increasingly obsessed with having Edward, his former friend in the military, come over for dinner. Peter goes to extreme length to prepare for this dinner party, painting walls and extensively cleaning, but as the film progresses it becomes clear that this catch-up engagement was never actually made, being another delusion in Peter's fragile psyche. Oyelowo gives a fantastic performance in this film, done with such conviction that I began to question how much of his performance was improvised in the moment vs. directed, with so many character decisions feeling genuine and organic. While one could write at great length about David Oyelowo's performance, which would be well warranted, Nightingale's other great attribute is its ability to blur the line between reality and Peter's imagination. As David talks to increasingly worried friends and family about his mother, I began to question whether or not these phone calls were even real, or simply another delusion, a manifestation of Peter's guilt over the murder of his mother. Atmospheric and well-designed, Nightingale uses frantic editing and blurred imagery to visually represent Peter's psyche, leading to a conclusion that forces the viewer to consider the inherent tragedy of mental illness. Told with subtlety and nuance, Elliott Lester's Nightingale is a fascinating film about a man's spiraling psychosis, arguing that it may have begun years ago, with the death of his brother, which subsequently lead to his mother's neglect and eventual mental instability in Peter.
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June 2023
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