These two films show the fantastical notion of mothers turning canine and a narrative examining why white supremacy can gain immense popularity. It’s two cases of the neighborhood going to the… dare we say it? To the dogs. 

Nightbitch (Amazon Prime on Demand) - Amy Adams stars in this fantasy horror/black comedy, and she was a Golden Globes Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical nominee for this film - losing out to Demi Moore. Written and directed by Marielle Heller and based on the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder, the film can be described as magical realism in modern suburbia, examining the myths surrounding motherhood and what would happen if primal urges were allowed to rule. Adams portrays a stay-at-home Mom; the father (Scoot McNairy) is on the road throughout the week, and the child is a precocious toddler. Said mother was a reasonably well-known and acclaimed artist at one time, but she has shelved that talent and ambition to devote herself to motherhood… and at the start of the film, we’re shown the double-edged sword of that decision. 

What follows is pure magical realism, as the mother goes feral and canine, and this element of body horror is realized effectively - she starts growing hair in the weirdest places and, like female dogs, develops multiple nipples. The targets of this film are clear - Men, Society, and Social Norms. The three have put mothers in a virtual cage via expectations, roles to be played, and how to act as mothers. It’s remarked how mothers are expected to bond, to be alone in caring for the child, and never complain or ‘bitch’ about this role thrust upon them. As it was in the novel, this film acts as a retort to that viewpoint. The book did, though, go all the way in delineating that position. Here, in the movie, there seems to be some timidness or reluctance to follow the end goal of the source material. It’s like we went more than halfway, then copped out. 

The Order (Amazon Prime On Demand) - Set in the Pacific Northwest of California, Oregon, and Washington in the mid-1980s, this true crime film chronicles the genesis and movements of a splinter group of white supremacists led by Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult), and how they resorted to violence and robbery to hasten their agenda of intolerance and supremacy. Arranged against Mathews is FBI agent Terry Husk (Jude Law), who headed the operations that identified the splinter group and went after them. Regular law enforcement thought the group was still attached to the main Movement and tolerated them because while espousing supremacy, it was doing so with a long-term plan of infiltrating political positions. For Mathews, his ‘order’ called for violence and victory. Directed by Aussie Justin Kurzel, who was behind the film The True History of the Kelly Gang. 

What works well here is how they go beneath the surface and explore why Mathews struck a responsive chord among the members of the bigger group. Dispossessed whites, ready to look for an excuse as to why they’re having a hard time, will be ripe and ready to be told it’s not their fault - but the fault of the Jews, the browns and blacks who live in ‘their’ country. To see it existing back in the 1980s and to know it’s behind the appeal of President Trump only makes this film more than an echo of the past. Jurnee Smollett portrays Joanne Carney, a fellow FBI agent, but she’s given a minor role. What didn’t escape me, though, is that in this film about recent American history, we have two Englishmen taking on the two main roles. Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult hail from the United Kingdom and disguise that fact exceptionally well, putting on American accents. The slow burn of a start but gets tense as the proverbial noose is tightened.