Halloween Film Month Chapter III, Day 20: Nightcrawler

 

Director: Dan Gilroy

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton

Released: 2014

Trailer

 

A movie like this comes once in a great while: a fascinating character study of, by all means, a horrifying character. The ‘70s had Travis Bickel. The ‘80s had Frank Zito. The ‘90s had Tom Ripley. Even the 2000s had Patrick Bateman. Now, almost halfway through the 2010s, we have another one to add to the list—Lou Bloom, who is a welcome addition to this list.

Nightcrawler is about Lou Bloom, a former thief who turns to “nightcrawling”—shooting freelance footage of accident scenes as well as crime scenes and selling them to the highest bidder. But rather than simply shooting the scenes as they appear, Bloom is not afraid to tamper with the scenes or worse to get the best shot. It’s a film about one man’s rise to fame (or infamy) and how corrupt the news has truly become.

Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic as Lou Bloom. The fact that he did not receive a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars is a huge oversight on the Academy’s part.

“Where’s my… OSCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR?!”

Gyllenhaal takes a character who is by all means a monster and makes him interesting. In a weird way, I respect Bloom’s work ethic, even though his actions are often deplorable. He believes in doing his best work, although this is often done by any means (mostly deplorable means) necessary. His philosophy of never putting anyone working for him in a situation he wouldn’t put himself into is also admirable in a strange way considering what he does for a living and how dangerous it can be. His forwardness toward his future boss is also interesting. Rather than being cautious (as most newcomers to a freelance job are wont to do), he’s very upfront about what he wants from the station and from the boss (the less said, the better).

What’s most disturbing about the Bloom character is that those good traits he has are those that many people in the working world value. To a lot of people, a hard worker is willing to put himself out in the world and apply himself to any job. A true, hard-working man can have almost nothing in his life at first, but through hard work and lifting himself up by his bootstraps, the man can make it in a competitive economy. And, this is what Lou Bloom basically does, albeit by deplorable means.

The atmosphere of the film is great. Setting the film in Los Angeles was a fantastic choice because of how the city looks at night. While the city is often portrayed as this bustling place where anything—fame, usually— is possible, this film portrays the city as one of hopelessness and violence. The choice to set the film mostly at night is a good choice as well, allowing for the city lights to pierce the darkness and create a visually interesting backdrop.

The story, while slow-paced, is never boring, mostly because of Lou’s disturbing actions and the critiques of the news that the film makes. Though there aren’t any action scenes, per se, there are plenty of intense moments that make the film both engaging and hard to watch at times. Any scene where Bloom is rushing to a crime scene to be the first camera man there is well shot and suspenseful.

The story is also fascinating in that it does not hesitate to question the motives of the media in the planning of their reports. Do the news stations really only want to spread the news, or are they also in it for the profit? And, if profit is important, are news stations willing to stoop to borderline fabrication of events to put out a story they know will sell? This film covers all of this, and while the scenarios in the film may not represent every news station, it certainly made this reviewer question whether or not all the things the media presents to people as the truth are indeed the truth.

Honestly, there’s not much else to say about Nightcrawler that hasn’t already been said. It’s a fantastic film whose atmosphere and story, along with Gyllenhaal’s fantastic performance, are effective and engaging. This is one film no one should miss.

Final Score: 10/10

---

For more reviews, be sure to like this page as well as the Facebook page. For previous reviews, be sure to check out the full directory of reviews. As always, thank you for reading!