The story revolves around Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), an unemployed petty thief who ekes out a living by selling stolen scrap metal. By chance, he encounters a camera crew that is out chasing late night news stories so that they can sell the gory footage to local news channels. If there is carnage, the cameramen descend like vultures. Enthralled and inspired, Louis obtains a camcorder and police radio scanner and joins the hunt for tragedies to exploit, selling his clips to Nina (Rene Russo), a producer working the graveyard shift at a flailing network. He subsequently hires homeless drifter Rick (Riz Ahmed) as an ‘intern’, as his sociopathic tendencies start to take over.
Nightcrawler presents a fascinating character study of a disturbed person who is willing to profiteer off the misery of others, and if need be, orchestrate that misery himself. The film also satirises the television news business, taking a swipe at the media’s “if it bleeds, it leads” mentality by giving us a very extreme version of events and showing us how awry things can go if this morbid tendency is not kept in check.
In his directorial debut, screenwriter Dan Gilroy has proved himself a master of creating tension, gradually increasing the intensity of the proceedings as the film goes on till it reaches its climactic clash. He has also equipped his characters with distinct, dark personalities, and chosen very suitable actors to fill each role. Jake Gyllenhaal is terrifyingly impressive in the unsettling part for which he reportedly lost over 20 pounds, and he is perfectly paired with Russo and Ahmed as his partners in crime.
Overall Nightcrawler makes for an intriguing albeit uncomfortable watch as it takes the viewer on a dark journey into the life of a disturbed soul ambitiously following his newfound passion unhindered by things like morals and ethics. Louis isn’t given a detailed backstory, a choice that will please some viewers while leaving others wondering how he became who he is and why he thinks sounding like a cross between a business brochure and a self-help pamphlet is a good thing. Ultimately, Nightcrawler’s fascinating look at an extremely dislikable yet riveting protagonist and the workings of the murky universe he ventures into may not be pleasant viewing, but the movie is very likely to make an impression on viewers and give them something to think about.
Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, December 7th, 2014.
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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.