Lou Bloom looks at a wall of Media in Nightcrawler
Photo Credit: Elevation Pictures
Nightcrawler
A+
A review by Frederick Cholowski
The rags to riches
story is getting darker and darker. Once upon a time it was a triumphant tale
of a virtuous man or woman rising through a system that creates opportunity for
good people to succeed. In 2014 we get Nightcrawler, a film that takes
everything about that formula and dumps it on its head; Nightcrawler instead explores
the idea of what if the rags to riches story is only achievable through
despicable means. The result is a magnificent film one that ties so many
strange elements together and turns them into something extraordinary.
When we first meet
Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) he’s stealing scrap metal from a chain link fence
and selling it for very little. One night while driving to his tiny apartment
he finds a “nightcrawler,” a camera man who takes footage of crimes as soon as
they happen and then sells them to the local television news stations for a
decent chunk of change. Bloom thinks that he can do it too so he buys himself a
camera and a police scanner, hires a clueless assistant (Riz Ahmed), and begins
selling exclusively to a ratings driven producer of the lowest rated LA channel
Nina (Rene Russo). Of course Lou isn’t the let’s say “normal” type, and soon
begins to do varying levels of illegal things (the example that is shown in the
trailer is moving a body in order to get the perfect shot) in order to continue
making more and more money and become a successful business owner.
Nightcrawler
provides interesting commentary of two different areas of society. The first is
a scathing satire of modern media. “If it bleeds it leads” is a line uttered
early on in the film by fellow nightcrawler and Lou’s chief competition Joe
(Bill Paxton) and it’s an idea that is explored throughout the film. In the
world of Nightcrawler all that newscasts have become are a set of bloody events
stitched together to garner ratings with zero intent to comply with journalistic
ethics nor have any sort of moral compass. The terms “viewer discretion is
advised” is not precautionary it’s in fact a source of intrigue for the viewer.
Nina describes her newscast proudly as “a screaming woman running down the street
with her throat cut.” Of course it is a little exaggerated (it is satire after
all) but it does provide a thought provoking look on how society consumes news.
The other element,
and most interesting subject of the film’s commentary is the look at the modern
economic structure and what the American Dream has turned into. What means does
a person have to go in order to achieve success? Does a person have to have
morals while running a business or is making money enough? These are some of
the questions that Nightcrawler asks as Lou continues to grow his business
through less then acceptable means. As mentioned earlier Nightcrawler does
follow a rags to riches storyline, but does it in a way that makes the viewer
question the people that that story can create. Has money making really overtaking
all other values in life? Nightcrawler provides a scary prospective on the
society we live in and questions the moral code that it can potentially force.
The main reason why
this commentary is so interesting is because of the character and performance
at its centre. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers that best male performance of 2014 in
this film as Lou adding a whole new world of depth to the character. All of
Gyllenhaal’s small mannerisms from the wide eyes that never seem move while his
eye lids are constantly twitching, to the chin that weavers when he speak help
suck the audience into his character. It’s hard sometimes to suspend disbelief
enough to completely remove the actor from the character they are playing, but
from the very first frame of Nightcrawler Jake Gyllenhaall is Lou Bloom.
Through parts of the film it’s really easy to forget the actor completely,
Gyllenhaall is that great (the comparison I made coming out of the theatre is
Robert De Niro in Taxi Drive and while I don’t quite think Gyllenhaal is that
great he sure comes close).
Gyllenhaal is so
great that it’s hard to talk about any of the other performances. Rene Russo
has the next most prominent role and she is very good here as her insanity
increases after each passing moment she spends with Lou until she becomes more
like him than originally imagined. Riz Ahmed does well as the clueless sidekick
that gets to play off of Gyllenhaal for a lot of the film and by the end gets a
few moments to shine. All the rest of the supporting performances are very
solid and add to the world of the film (including Teddy Chowgugah (or at least
the actor who plays him playing as close to modern Teddy as you can get)!!!!),
but really this is the Jake Gyllenhaal show and the film is ultimately better
for it.
On the technical
side of things the film strides the line perfectly between being slick and cool
without ever feeling like it’s glorifying anything that the awful Lou ends up
doing. The film looks great from beginning to finish and really captures the
creepy nature of the after dark business that is taking place before the
viewer’s eyes. The score works nicely as well blending in a solid mix of techo
and orchestral fare. It’s not as good as say a Cliff Martinez score might have
been in this context but it does well for what it’s being asked to do.
Nightcrawler is a
spectacular film from beginning to finish. Combining some great dual social
commentary with a sleek feel and perhaps the best single performance of the
year Nightcrawler ascends to superior status. Let’s just hope that in our near
future our rags to riches films can become more optimistic (just for society’s
sake) but for the age of cynicism that we live in Nightcrawler works perfectly.
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