Nightcrawler (2014) Review!!

Synopsis – When Lou Bloom, a driven man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

My Take – This film is 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. 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. The film tells the story of Lou Bloom, a freelance videographer who covers the crime world in LA for a local news station and ruthless editor played by Rene Russo. It isn’t before long until Bloom’s demented job overtakes his life, making him colder and colder the deeper he goes. The film plays like a twisted bloody version of Network and has the satirical wit to back it up. Lou Bloom is a driven man reminiscent of a sociopath who finds he has a talent as “nightcrawling” in that he takes videos of true crimes as they are happening to be broadcast on the news.

His motivation and seeming lack of empathy allow him to break through and take the controversial images, and sell them with a strong aptitude for negotiation. The film gives us a look into a grim and often dirty gig as he is not looking to help or to provide encouragement; he’s there to get his shots and move on, hoping to turn as large of a profit as he can. We see Los Angeles in the light of what could be classifiable as a contemporary film noir, in dark, sometimes shadowy-photography and dingy environments that reveal an ugliness to a city that is normally captured as very beautiful and ideal in terms of climate. The film highlights the contemporary exploration of journalistic ethics and how, with local cable news competing with so many twenty-four hour news stations, who, in turn, are also battling more rapidly-updated social media websites, the manipulation of news is ever-present on Television. News programs, like sitcoms, reality shows, and sports events, are a game of numbers and those numbers are ratings – something that the film makes depressingly clear to us. Jake Gyllenhaal is utterly fantastic in this film. Lou Bloom is a role that he is completely submerged in and it oozes through every frame as our dislike for Bloom intensifies throughout the film. But what this film does best is not make us particularly like Bloom but it makes us wonder what he is willing to do next. And trust me, his actions get as sick and as shocking as they come. Bloom is a depraved individual and Jake Gyllenhaal deserves a hell of a lot acknowledgment for this role because he pulls off the tricky task of making the audience care about a character that is truly unlikeable and does so with not one false note. It is truly mesmerizing to see.

After End of Watch, Prisoners & Enemy, this is another role Jake Gyllenhaal nailed it as one of the most contemporary & often written off actors of our generation. The supporting cast including Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed & Bill Paxton are absolutely great in this film and deliver career bests here. Director Dan Gilroy and cinematographer Robert Elswit do everything in their power to subvert our ideas of Los Angeles and focus on transitory locations that show the ugliest of human events in such a way that is beautiful and captivating thanks to crystal-clear photography. Writer/Director Dan Gilroy is someone to watch, especially coming out of the gates with a film filled with sheer and raw velocity like this one. It is not only an impressive first film but a brilliant film all around. On the whole Nightcrawler is slick, dangerous & highly engrossing tense thriller! Must watch!