Nocturne caught my attention because the trailer looked like a Black Swan-esque psychological thriller. But instead of ballet, the focus is on the highly competitive world of classical pianists. The movie looked even more intense as it focused on twin sisters who are both vying for a spot at Juilliard.

OPENING THOUGHTS:

DIRECTION:

This is the first feature length film for writer and director Zu Quirke and it is an interesting debut to say the least. Quirke doesn’t follow the typical psychological thriller formula. Instead of the main character driven to extremes to be the best like we’ve seen before in movies like Black Swan or Whiplash, Quirke adds in an extra element of a supernatural satanic presence. This satanic presence takes the form of a student’s notebook. The main character, Juliet, finds the notebook and enters into a Faustian agreement of sorts to improve her piano skills. Quirke does a decent job of building tension with odd camera angles and is assisted greatly by timely disturbing music. To signify when something odd is happening, Quirke uses the appearance of a yellow light, which is useful but also a bit of overkill. Overall, Quirke takes some unique risks and crafts an interesting first feature.

PLOT:

Nocturne revolves around two sisters, Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) and Vivian (Madison Iseman) who attend an arts prep school together. They are both preparing for life after high school. Vivian is set to attend Juilliard while Juliet, who didn’t get into Juilliard, is taking a gap year. Both are talented pianists hoping to rise to the top of the competitive world of classical pianists. At the beginning of the movie, one of their fellow students, Moria (Ji Eun Hwang), commits suicide by jumping off a building. The driving force of the movie is an end of year competition to play in a lavish performance for a large audience. Moria had won the competition, but due to her death, they are hosting the competition again. When Juliet hears rumblings that Juilliard scouts will be at the performance, she becomes determined to win the competition. The only problem is that Vivian is the better pianist who will most likely win and Juliet has a hard time dealing with this fact. Somehow Juliet winds up finding Moria’s notebook which has inscriptions and drawings that correlate with the last few weeks of Moria’s life. Juliet’s life eerily begins mirroring some of these drawings. Her “bargain” takes some odd forms and creates a wedge between her and Vivian. The notebook is an odd introduction into the plot and one that at times feels forced. You don’t really understand fully what is happening to Juliet or what is real. The addition of the notebook and the foreshadowing inscriptions didn’t add much to the plot and actually took away from what was the more interesting aspect, the sisters’ relationship.