If you look beyond the existential crisis, the notes of which flow from every scene of Nancy, you can see something really breakthrough (in part of the plot, probably) in this uncompromising film about the extreme state of insanity. The main interest of this work, made in gray colors, lies in the installation: 35-year-old Nancy feels lonely enough, with a sick mother in her arms, and it is not surprising that a woman always lies to probably make her life more interesting than it really is. At some point, this leads to a very awkward situation, to say the least, as Nancy, in her desperate attempts to attract attention, impersonates a once-missing person. Why? One of the reasons to feel love.
Pushing up a depressive atmosphere details of life of a mentally unstable woman make up a gloomy indie film. It seems that the creators of “Nancy” naturally and smoothly built a certain style to emphasize all the squalor of life and, thus, correctly set the viewer on a very unsightly story. When Nancy cooks her mother’s food, it is, of course, dry and unattractive; her desire to care for her mother naturally results in very awkward situations; and, of course, any interior in Nancy looks squalid (but probably in a good sense of the word). The tape shies away from any manifestation of the conventional notion of beauty to plunge the viewer into a world of lost souls and shattered dreams. It’s not so bad, it’s just a very dark film, it’s too hard to read, which definitely has a role to play when choosing a movie to watch.
The lack of visual image, however, is compensated by aesthetic and creative (in terms of the movement of the plot) components. The early scenes of "Nancy" are presented in a square aspect ratio, emphasizing the harsh limitations of the life of a single lady; the frame is expanded and even brightened when Nancy meets a married couple, as if her world opens up to new emotional possibilities. Stylistic reception definitely makes sense, let it influence the viewer subconsciously.
However, when the plot of Nancy enters the territory of the classic comparison and contrast of the heroine’s life before and after meeting a married couple, it is unlikely that the script presents intellectual or dramatic results. Apparently, the creators believed that the juxtaposition between Nancy’s sad life and her possible future correctly captured the “American Dream” (or what a lonely woman on the brink of insanity probably means by that). Unfortunately, as it seemed to me, this topic does not provide a sufficient degree of drama. Apparently, the writers did not really imagine how the miraculous entrance into another life could change Nancy’s inner, given the crumpled ending and the absence of an afterword. Even questions about Nancy’s origins are not raised: we realize from the very beginning that she is a liar and wait for the inevitable development and end of the story.
While stunned, in the cage of her own consciousness, Nancy is a recognizable type for fans of “black” indie dramas, the most interesting are Ellen and Leo, those dreary parents looking for a long-lost child. Don’t get it wrong, the role of immature and exhausted Nancy was a landmark for Riseborough – an actress with the ability to deftly reincarnate. Nevertheless, my sympathies were on the side of the couple performed by J. Smith-Cameron and Steve Buscemi. They managed to fill their characters with some interesting and curious details, which in itself is a feat, since the image of a “heartbroken parent” has recently become tired.
It takes a certain amount of courage to end this story the way the creators put it. Wrapped in gloomy cinematography, the picture is as closed as its central character: in the remainder there is only a strange, slightly sour work, which accurately tells neither about origin nor about psychology and is not a journey for self-discovery.
6 out of 10