Nightbitch 2024 Horror Film Review By Flixhd

After much-publicized hopes that Rachel Yoder's novel would hit the screens in 2021 and that Amy Adams would finally win an Oscar for her performance, the trailer for Marielle Heller's new film The Nightbitch dampened the expectations of many moviegoers. For a film that was supposed to be a serious examination of a young mother's experience in transitioning into a matriarchal system, it seemed absurd and overly funny. Browse Nightbitch movie on Flix hd movies

Now that the film has been released, were those concerns justified or overblown?

The Night Bitch tells the story of a former artist identified only as a mother (Amy Adams). She puts her career on hold to become a housewife and mother, trying to cope with a new phase of her life while her husband (Scoot McNairy) continues his career and helps her as much as he can. As the stress of being a mother of a toddler and a stay-at-home mom mounts, her evening routine becomes unrealistic and her maternal instincts begin to emerge as she transforms into a dog at night.

The centerpiece of the film is undoubtedly the mother's transformation from human to dog. And while this transformation has an impact on the story, the sensational and metaphorical gimmick of the transformation is secondary to Night Bitch's exploration of the female experience in the transition to motherhood. What the mother experiences throughout the film is her struggle with her changing identity from wife and mother to married working woman and all the complexities that come with it. What Night Bitch beautifully portrays is the complexities that many women feel as a new mother, a combination of regret and intense love and care for their newborn baby. It would have been easy for Heller to portray this in the simplistic way that modern feminist culture typically portrays working motherhood as a burden for women, an albatross that needs to be overcome or avoided altogether. However,

Nightbitch tackles this theme in a nuanced way, showing the complex emotions of trying to balance professionalism and motherhood in a way that satisfies both passions, and how one triumphs over the other at different times. While the first half of the film is a black comedy in every sense, the second half becomes more dramatic. This shift is not sudden, but natural and well-paced, with a great balance between entertainment and emotion. The film also depicts how this conflict is intergenerational, as we see that Mama's mother also had to struggle to adapt to being a mother. Jessica Harper appears in the film as the kindly librarian Norma, reinforcing this generational aspect, offering wisdom and support to the mother as an older woman who found herself in the same situation.

Night Bitch effectively engages with mothers, women with children, and the outside world. Perhaps most effectively in a swanky New York dinner scene where the mother reunites with her childless friends from her high society professional life. We see mothers mocked and belittled for their parenting, as if it is not enough to contribute to the world. This reinforces a very moving conversation the mother has with a group of young mothers earlier in the film, who lament the lack of social and institutional support for mothers. Both scenes are sure to interest the mother, and effectively highlight the real world issues within the film's plot.

A constant source of frustration for the mother is that her husband (note that it is her husband, but her name is related to her lineage) does not have to bear the same burden as her in terms of social change. Parenthood brings that. On top of the business trips, the husband doesn't offer a helping hand and laments the mental and emotional changes his mother has undergone since the birth of their child. This could have easily become a cliché storyline, but instead the relationship is handled with care and both perspectives are taken seriously without making the husband into a caricature of the bad guy.

A lot has been said in the lead up to the release of Nightbitch. Is it too much of an absurdist comedy? Is it too feminist? The film is a balanced and nuanced exploration of the challenges motherhood brings to women, how society treats them, and how women must navigate this new and dangerous territory alone to find and form a new identity after the birth of their child. The film tackles the theme of motherhood in all its facets and how it clashes with and simultaneously emphasizes the female identity. He is both very funny and thought-provoking. There are some laugh-out-loud moments before things get serious later in the film, which both work brilliantly. Amy Adams delivers a fantastic performance that hits all the emotional points required of her and will certainly go down as one of the best of the year. She is funny when the film demands it and moving when things get serious. Nightbitch is a revelation and certainly worth your time.