Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Prime Video is an Amazon Original from Welcome to Blumhouse and writer/director Zu Quirke is the tale of NOCTURNE.

Sisters Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) and Vivian (Madison Iseman) were once as close as two sisters could possibly be. Then music came into their lives, both playing the piano, outgoing Vivian pulls ahead in achievements as the not-so-outgoing Juliet suffers with it in silence.

Their last year of high school brings a final music performance which is especially difficult as one of their classmates has died. As auditions open up, Vivian plays a piece that wow’s the judges and Juliet decides to play the same piece of music. Vivian is clearly upset but wants Juliet to know that it won’t upset her for long.

One evening as Juliet is practicing, she is distracted by a light and finds a notebook that belonged to the student who died. Becoming more and more interested in what is in the notebook, Juliet also starts to change.

Almost overnight she takes on everything that she feels has slowed her down, beginning with teacher Roger (John Rothman) calling him out for his inadequacies and replacing him with teacher Mike (A.J. Tannen). She turns on her own sister to make it clear that Juliet no longer is willing to be second best. Juliet also decides it time to follow her heart and go after Max (Jacques Colimon).

Juliet’s opportunity finally comes as she prepares to play for a big school audience. What she know is that the notebook has other plans for her.

Sweeney as Juliet is a young girl who just can’t seem to find her place. Feeling like she is the failure of the family, her parents try to encourage her. Making things worse is when sister Vivian gets accepted into a prestigious school for music and Juliet does not. That sets things up for issues that are deep and scaring. Sweeney gives us a performance of a young girl in pain and looking for a way through it all. She thinks the notebook offers that!

Iseman as Vivian is the sister who is outgoing, friendly, has lots of people around her and a relationship. Winning achievements and then accepted in the school she wanted, she sees how it hurts Juliet but doesn’t seem to care – until she does. The tug of war between Sweeney and Iseman is deep and these two actresses pull it off well.

Colimon as Max is living his high school life to the fullest but sees that something is happening to both the sisters. Caught up in something he doesn’t understand is an understatement for sure. Colimon performance of Max is quick and filled with regret and that’s all I’m going to say.

Tannen as Mike is a teacher who is watching the twist and turns of Juliet and Vivian’s relationship. Discovering that Juliet can actually play, he encourages here in a way that left even my head tilted with question and jaw dropped with intent.

Other cast include Julie Benz as Cassie, Rodney To as Wilkins, JoNell Kennedy as Ms. Gordon, Brandon Keener as David, Miles McKenna as Alexis, Asia Jackson as Abigail, Phillip Wampler as Walter, Stephon Fuller as Joshua, and Ji Eun Hwang as Moira.

Amazon Prime offers television shows and original content included in its Amazon Prime subscription. Original programs such as CARNIVAL ROW, THE MAIN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, and THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL are some of their hit shows. Now, Welcome to Blumhouse is bring their scary offerings to keep us all in the Halloween spirit.

NOCTURNE is a suspense thriller that isn’t full of gore but mainly plans to totally mess with the viewers head. Centered around high school kids, music and the rivalry of sisters (as one would expect of exceptionally piano playing sisters), this scenario is ripe for a mysterious notebook to come into play and muck up the works.

The film is slow paced to tell the story of what is real and what lives in our imaginations just as much as Julie must decide what is real and what is in her imagination. So brush up on your classical music and prepare to be mind bent a little in the process.

In the end – the great reach their potential while the mad surpass it!

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