Nightcrawler (2014)

Review by:
Bill Clark

Reviewed by:
Rating:
5
On December 11, 2014
Last modified:January 15, 2015

Summary:

Headlined by career best work from Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler is one of the darker and craftier thrillers to come along in quite awhile.

Nightcrawler (2014)

“I’d like to think if you’re seeing me you’re having the worst day of your life.”

So says Louis Bloom, the anti-hero of writer/director Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler. The film is a pitch-black, often satirically so, look at the bloodlust that engulfs local news. Its parallels with reality are only slightly blurred, allowing the viewer to look on as a horrified witness. Headlined by career best work from Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler is one of the darker and craftier thrillers to come along in quite awhile.

As the film opens, Bloom (Gyllenhaal), is down on his luck and having trouble finding work. He’s a driven worker and a fast learner, as he puts it. On the way home one night he spots a car accident on the side of the road. Police and medics surround an injured person as an opportunistic “stringer,” Joe Loder (Paxton), captures the whole thing on camera. Loder’s job: sell the footage to the highest bidder in the local news market. Entranced by the possibilities, Louis pawns a camera and a police scanner. With the help of an assistant, Rick (Ahmed), and a bloodthirsty news director, Nina (Russo), desperate to raise ratings, Bloom scours the city for the grisliest footage he can get.

Gilroy’s script has plenty to say about contemporary news reporting and biases. The ultimate “get” for Bloom is a homicide in an upscale neighborhood committed by minorities. It’s the way that Gilroy slyly works this in to an otherwise chilling tale about a sociopath that makes Nightcrawler so effective. Bloom sees no problem with doing whatever it takes – re-arranging crime scenes and molding what actually happened into its most compelling version – to obtain his footage. He views it as his job. Nina and everyone around him, save for the level-headed Rick, enable his behavior in the name of ratings and the public’s yearning for the most gruesome footage allowed on TV. The film does run a bit astray with the notion that network news would air shot and bloodied bodies with the faces pixelated, but then again, who knows. There’s always room to sink lower. The final third of the film involves a rapidly-devolving situation after Bloom arrives at the scene of a triple homicide before police and films the deceased and the killers. As his morals and decency completely erode, Bloom looks to exploit the footage as much as possible.

Jake Gyllenhaal, twenty pounds lighter than usual, completely transforms into the mousy, ever-confident Bloom. Barely blinking and increasingly off-kilter, Gyllenhaal has crafted one of the more memorable cinematic sociopaths of recent history. Russo, making just her third appearance since 2005, is coldly effective as Nina. Her bond with Louis, which he would prefer be romantic, adds additional intrigue. Bill Paxton, as Louis’s chief rival, and Riz Ahmed, as Bloom’s apprehensive partner, both turn in fine supporting work.

Sly, dark, and macabre, Nightcrawler is an exceptional example of social commentary done right. It has a bitingly satirical edge that pokes through the Los Angeles night regularly. Tightly written and beautifully photographed by Gilroy and ace cinematographer Robert Elswit, Nightcrawler is one of the year’s finest thrillers.

GRADE: A-


Studio: Open Road Films
Length: 117 Minutes
Rating: R for violence including graphic images, and for language.
Theatrical Release: October 31, 2014
Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Written by: Dan Gilroy
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Eric Lange, Riz Ahmed


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One Comment

  1. Nightcrawler seems like a satire to modern television news about how they choose their leads or often seek for more ratings by entertaining their viewers rather than aim straightly to the facts. But there is a much interesting story beneath here and that is the main character, Louis Bloom. The guy that easily manipulates people with his sinister tricks of persuasion. Everything else may just be the natural world of crime and accidents, but in the eyes of this character, the experience is made far stranger and oddly fascinating. This provides a compellingly menacing and provoking piece of commentary which results to such engrossing film.

    What the plot mostly does is to fully absorb the viewers into the character of Bloom by studying his sociopathic behavior and the words coming out from his mouth. He is a charming young man with a dark intention hidden behind his grins. He pushes the limits of the law and his own safety, only to accomplish on what he must do in the job, even if it risks many people’s lives. The actions of this antihero is ought to feel terrifying on how it affects to both the business he’s working on and the society he is watching. The media’s side however is more of a picture of cynicism on how they broadcast the scariest stories of the city, giving the people fear so they could earn more viewers out of the concern. It just breaks down on how the evil of their success is disguised as their own ethics.

    The filmmaking perfectly captures their night’s work. You couldn’t clearly see the scenario they shoot unless you watch them on a video footage. The violence and peril they witness are shown without any hint of sympathy, since they only use them for the news show. The horror of these gritty scenes once again belongs to the nightcrawler. Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the biggest highlights here. His character obviously has the personality of a psychotic villain; he is mostly bluffing, and by the dashing enthusiasm he shows to the people around him, you probably may not know when his inner total madness will burst out from his frightening eyeballs, and that provides more tension than you expect. This is one of the Gyllenhaal performances that will be remembered for his career.

    Out of common sense, this story may lead its main character to a moral about how much he is taking this job too far, probably destroying his humanity. But no, this guy is relentless, almost inhumane, and his style in fact helps his career grow bigger, which turns out we are actually rooting for a villain. And that probably pictures to some oppressive ambitious beings out there behind some system. This is where things go in the end, bringing an outcome to a social satire. You can spot a lot of relevance even when some of the situations get a little out of hand. Nightcrawler is something else than a sentiment, what we must focus here is Lou Bloom: a new, possibly iconic, movie vigilante, except the only skin he is purposely saving is himself and his career.

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