Nightcrawler

Los Angeles at night. Is there a more sprawled out canvas of "anything can happen" in America? The city itself is a dark and tempting character, with iconic sights from the Hollywood Hills, to Mulholland Drive. Beverly Hills to the Pacific Highway. The bright lights and the dark streets of this flat, urban landscape. It's hard to imagine nearly 4 million people live in the limits, yet there is something that is so attractive. The more movies you've seen, the more tempting she is. It's a magical city, and director Dan Gilroy captures her dark, seedy magic as if it were one of the characters. I haven't been this impressed with LA as a main character since Collateral, or Heat. You might even say that this seems like a low-budget Michael Mann film.

Jake Gyllenhaal is mesmerizing as Lou Bloom. To say he's a bit quirky and creepy would be an understatement, and Jake nails it. Lou is a borderline sociopath looking for some direction in life. He is intelligent, but not educated, and doesn't seem to have any friends, family, or connections. The back story doesn't matter though because Lou is such an interesting character. Gyllenhaal lost a considerable amount of weight to play the gaunt, almost Kafka-esque version of his former self. His bug eyes, greasy hair, and emaciated features create a compelling anti-hero. He becomes entranced by the world of crime photo-journalism, stumbling upon an accident scene and marveling at the adrenaline rush of human misery and society's infatuation with watching. A man with little conscience, this is right up his alley. As a quick study, he discovers that he is actually pretty good at the job and thrives on the carnage besieging the city at night. As he starts to make a decent living, he befriends a news station program director (Rene Russo) more out of the mutual absence of moral integrity and the craving of profitability, and less out of actual friendship. Things begin to spiral out of control when Lou loses himself in his job, not at all motivated by the money as much as the respect of the news station, and the adoration of the public.

Nightcrawler preys on the voyeuristic instinct of all of us, and Tony Gilroy throws us right in the middle of the nasty world of network news. The approach is highly cynical, and you won't leave the film feeling very good about yourself. Or humanity. Or anything really. In fact, that's what Gilroy manages to accomplish; an icky feeling after watching this deplorable and despicable subculture cannibalize themselves and each other. Why would you want to watch a film like this, you ask? Because just like the car wrecks on the highway, you can't look away. That's the catch-22.

Gilroy and his brother hit the scene a few years back with the brilliant Michael Clayton, and Nightcrawler is brilliant in an entirely different way. The way that Network made us look at news dissemination through a cautious lens, Nightcrawler questions the ethics of the industry when ratings are the only true measure of success. It's an unscrupulous industry, and it's people like the entrepreneurial Lou Bloom who keep it moving at a darker and more graphic pace.

The plot isn't anything clever or even unpredictable, but Gilroy captures the essence of the film through his use of rising tension. The music is subtle but effective, and the pacing is sound for a novice filmmaker. What holds the film together however, is the City of Angels at night, and Lou Bloom. Outstanding job for a film with a budget of only $8.5 million. Expect it to be an awards sleeper.

In the end, you get so caught up in this seedy world, that you don't know whether to root for Bloom to achieve success, or root against him and his insatiable appetite for (insert human misery here). Does it make you a bad person if you secretly root for him? Of course, but it's the movies and the best performances are the ones who cause you to sympathize with a character despite his tremendous flaws. For that, Jake Gyllenhaal has accomplished his objective, and I expect he will receive an Oscar nomination in the process. Still one of the more underrated actors around when it comes to talent and potential (his role in Prisoners was amazing), he gets his first Best Oscar nomination for Nightcrawler.

The violent news culture we live in is amplified on screen, and this film isn't for everyone, but for a crime drama/thriller, it's definitely entertaining. Gyllenhaal impresses me once again. 8/10.