Jake Gyllenhaal gives an excellent performance as Lou Bloom, one of the most compelling on-screen manipulators I've seen in a long time.

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2014)

Nightcrawler is a Schraderesque character study of a man far more dangerous than Travis Bickle. Like Bickle, Lou Bloom doesn't like people, however Taxi Driver saw Bickle feel compassion for at least one person, Lou seems to have contempt for absolutely everyone. Lou's interactions with other people have only one purpose – control. He is very opportunistic and has an unshakable confidence that isn't hindered by the human inconveniences of nervousness and guilt.
Jake Gyllenhaal commands the long monologues of Dan Gilroy's script, stealing every scene he's in as the unnervingly brazen and enthusiastic Lou Bloom. Gyllenhaal lost 20 pounds for the role and it really worked, his gaunt face and glaring eyes do quite a lot of the acting for him. The performance carries the film and this will no doubt be recognised by the Academy next February.
In the film's opening moments, Lou is a vagrant who is shown committing crimes both petty and, it's suggested, not very petty at all. He's in the desperate pursuit of a job, and when he meets someone who could be of benefit, Lou initiates his charm offensive and inundates them with a relentless barrage of articulate yet platitudinous language as if he's reciting the effusive CV of a quixotic student.
Although his self-promotion is overbearing in the first few instances, Lou soon proves his skill in accruing large amounts of information and repeating it with the utmost conviction and credibility. Gyllenhaal must have relished delivering director Gilroy's excellent script; his manner of speech reminded me of Patrick Bateman's highly detailed monologues on everything from his morning routine to Huey Lewis and the News in Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho. Despite both men's articulacy, their diction feels recycled, and this is because it is – their cynical sociopathy means they cannot form true, sincere relationships, but they are able to counterfeit them through their adroit ability of learning and imitating the necessary behaviour.
Quick wits and amorality are key skills for any successful paparazzo, so it is unsurprising that Lou Bloom thrives in the field. His first forays into professional prying are very funny. Inspired by a chance encounter with venerable camera man Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), Lou buys a rudimentary camcorder and scours the myriad streets of Los Angeles. abruptly stopping next to the scene of a car accident and poking his camera right in people's faces. When he's challenged he proclaims with an uncommon doubtfulness -'I'm fairly certain I'm allowed to do this!' You soon see Bloom gain confidence as he pushes the boundaries further and further, making for tense and unpredictable viewing.
His audacity proves successful, snatching footage that's nice and gory, impressing Nina Romina (Rene Russo), the blonde, brassy director of a local news channel. Despite an appearance and demeanour that suggests seasoned business acumen, Nina spends much of the film under the thumb of Lou.
After proving his worth, enjoying his growing control over Nina and soon realising how vital he is in maintaining the news agency's spiking ratings, Lou proves that his manipulation can work, albeit it very unattractively, in courtship. Gilroy's best monologue occurs when, over dinner with a reluctant Nina, Lou blackmails her into establishing a longstanding sexual agreement, using a business-like vernacular bereft of anything remotely romantic, erotic or sexual.
Like Gone Girl, Night Crawler is a satire of the yellow journalism peddled by television news, content that's perhaps interesting for the public but not in the public interest, a distinction that is gleefully ignored in favour of lucrative scare-mongering and countless other immoralities. As the majority of the characters are under this satirical gaze, I found it hard to care when they fell victim to Lou's vicious conniving, my apathy even extending to his long suffering accomplice Rick (Riz Ahmed), who is too darn wet and spineless to get that emotionally invested in. None of this, I hasten to add, is a significant detriment, if a detriment at all.
The film is attractively shot by Robert Elswit, much of whose striking work can be found in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson including There Will Be Blood (2007), Punch Drunk Love (2002) and Boogie Nights (1997), the latter's sun-kissed, neon-lit aesthetic being most similar to Nightcrawler's. Elswit's work here is also likely to draw comparisons with Newton Thomas Sigel's photography in the beautifully slick Drive (2011).
With a tense, unpredictable narrative that's laced with strong satire and anchored by a great character and great performance, Nightcrawler is one the best films of 2014.
88%
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