Nightbitch

The second movie in my double feature with my nephew at the Broadway last night was Nightbitch.  I didn't know what to think about this movie when I first heard about it because it sounded so bizarre but I found the trailer to be really intriguing so I decided to see it.  Unfortunately, it is not bizarre enough and is all bark and no bite.  Mother (Amy Adams) was an artist of some renown who worked in a gallery before giving up her career to stay home with her Son (Arleigh and Emmett Snowdon).  Her Husband (Scoot McNairy) is away on business for most of the week and, frankly, isn't much help when he is home.  She fears that she no longer has an identity beyond that of mother, feels simultaneously overwhelmed by the demands of motherhood and bored by the monotony of it (there are lots of scenes in which she cooks the same breakfast and lunch over and over again), and doubts all of the decisions she has made about raising her Son.  Eventually she suspects that she is becoming a dog and it is not long before she physically transforms into one (in some amusing scenes involving magical realism).  It is when she fully embraces her animalistic instinct that she finds liberation and becomes a better mother and better artist.  I have not read the book by Rachel Yoder upon which this is based but it seems like there is an interiority that does not translate well to the screen because there is a lot of voice-over narration that becomes very tedious (lots of telling rather than showing).  The central metaphor is an interesting one so it is a shame that it is only ever explored on a superficial level.  Many of the scenes where Mother acts like a dog are comedic rather than scary and I wanted more rage and I definitely wanted more body horror (there is only one relatively benign scene where Mother discovers a tail).  I also wanted a more meaningful resolution (it veers from an honest examination of motherhood to a less compelling dissection of a marriage in which the Husband has an unearned redemption arc).  Adams is absolutely fearless but I can't help but feel that her performance would have been better if she had been allowed by the script to be more ferocious (the best performance comes from the Snowden twins who are adorable).  This is not quite as daring as it thinks it is and I was a bit disappointed.