It’s hard out here for a sociopath as of late. Nightingale, a one-man drama from Brad Pitt’s company Plan B starring David Oyelowo (in my third review featuring him, pretty soon I’ll have to start a Clash Of The Oyelowos column), invites us inside the home of one Peter Snowden, a military veteran slowly unravelling after committing a horrific act. Screenwriter Frederick Mensch and director Elliot Lester make the interesting choice to coyly reveal Peter’s crime in the film’s opening moments, so as a result the drama and buildup revolves around the inevitable degradation of his sanity.
Among his many other issues, Peter also suffers from having a one track mind. His fixation after his actions is on reconnecting with an old army buddy named Edward, which coincides with Peter’s surname for a weird reference I didn’t get the purpose or symbolism of. The goal is to invite Ed over to his mother’s house for a candlelight dinner, something she disapproved of.
Above: Oyelowo as the Amazing Technicolor Lunatic.
Like much of the film it’s not made clear if her issue was rooted in homophobia- neither Oyelowo’s performance or the script make Peter’s orientation or the nature of his obsessive love for Edward explicitly clear, nor anything that occurred during his past that may have contributed to his dissociative identity disorder. Nevertheless, Peter claims his mom has “moved away” as he obsessively prepares for what he hopes is a special night.
Throughout the film Peter verbally spars with Edward’s wife Vicki over the phone, and here Oyelowo plays him like a bratty and spoiled manchild. He frequently rants and raves to his laptop vlog or sometimes just to himself, often with the tone of a smart aleck kid who’s convinced he’s smarter than most adults. It’s obvious he’s trying to avoid facing the terrifying reality of the situation around him, and his confident veneer begins to slip when he’s denied what he thinks is rightfully his.
Oyelowo’s challenge in Nightingale is to keep the audience engaged without the help of any other actors to play off of (outside of another voice behind a door), and he does a nice job even though the second half drags a little. He makes Peter into a contemptible, scary and pathetic figure, yet during some of his emotional highs he’s charming and even funny. Whatever led up to the tragic events is left to the audience’s imagination, and we’re also left wondering how successful he could have been had they not occurred.
The film is maybe a bit too minimalistic and ambiguous for its own good, but it is effectively haunting and thought provoking. If nothing else, it’s another example of Oyelowo’s skill as an actor despite its narrative limitations, so I think it’s worth a look based on that.