Nightmare Alley (2021)

Nightmare Alley is a 2021 award-nominated Guillermo del Toro remake of the 1947 film by the same name. It stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, and Mary Steenburgen. I watched it on HBO Max, and I'm glad I've seen it. I like this director and seek out his work. That said, go watch the 1947 Tyrone Power/Joan Blondell original (link to YouTube video) if not instead at least first.

trailer:

Roger Ebert's site gives it 4 stars, calling it "a movie of psychological tunnels and downward spirals" and calling it "Hypnotic with its increasingly tense slow-burning plot progression and alluring atmosphere". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics concensus score of 80%. The Guardian review gives it high praise. Rolling Stone calls it "the lushest portrait of spiritual desolation you’re ever likely to see".