Stop me if you have heard this one before: In her latest movie, the brilliant Amy Adams plays a new mom who is overwhelmed by her son’s inconsistent sleep schedule, his fussy appetite, and the droning repetition of the day-to-day schedule that includes play dates, kid music, and messes. But at night, “Mother” (Adams) believes that she’s turning into a dog. OK, wait… I was with you until that part. But that’s the plot of NIghtbitch, an adaptation of a 2021 novel written by Rachel Yoder that burrows into the primal feelings of motherhood, and features a blistering performance by the always reliable Adams. When is Adams not good? It’s very rare. In fact, there’s a scene in Nightbitch that maybe was too convincing, as it forced several crew members to leave the set while director Marielle Heller filmed it.
This isn’t a spoiler. In fact, it might make you more curious for the lengths that Marielle Heller and Amy Adams went to create the atmosphere on Nightbitch. Throughout the movie, when the evening approaches, the overwhelmed “Mother” (Adams) begins to give into some animalistic urges. We’re never 100% sure if they are real or imagined. And in one, Mother thinks that she sees a growth on her lower back. It starts as a boil. But as she digs at it, it bursts open, and a dog’s tail emerges. It’s beyond gross.
