A Real Home Run for Jake Gyllenhaal

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2014)

2014 has been a year dominated by independent films. Not in box office numbers; In quality. And the trend continues with this modest little investigative noir from Dan Gilroy. Making his directorial debut, Gilroy has shown immense potential with this Los Angeles set thriller. Much of that credit is due to a once again fantastic performance from Gyllenhaal, who turns in perhaps his best work to date. This is a character that seems to be a culmination of all of his previous work.
Lou Dobbs (Gyllenhaal) is a neurotic drifter. And he's in no way a good guy. We're introduced to him as he is stealing copper wire for petty cash. Lou is a vulture in the city of angels, desperate to find his niche and eager to succeed. He is very well spoken, but persistent to a fault. One late night driving on the hectic Los Angeles freeway, he comes across a traffic accident and his curiosity grabs hold as he pulls over to investigate. In the midst of officers rescuing a woman from a burning vehicle, he notices men with high tech camcorders filming the scene from multiple angles. This heavily intrigues Lou and he learns from one of the camera men Joe Loder (Paxton) there's money to be earned for the juiciest videos that can be sold to local news stations.
So off Lou goes, stealing his way to buying a camcorder and police scanner. He is now in the beginning stages of 'nightcrawling' and the learning curve is steep. However Lou being the obsessive learner he is catches onto the game quickly, becoming better and better each night. Soon he hires another drifter as an assistant. Lou forms a partnership as well with a struggling news director Nina Romina (Russo) at the cities lowest rated station. This is no coincidence. As the film picks up speed, our 'protagonist' reveals himself as nothing more than a savage man that will stop at nothing to manipulate and deceive his way to getting everything he wants. And it's a fascinating ride.
Gyllenhaal is a man possessed by Dobbs. The dramatic weight loss aside, this is the year's best performance outside of Scarlett Johansen's haunting role in 'Under the Skin'. In the spirit of Patrick Bateman, it's the kind of character you hate to love. Yet you can't help it. Dobbs is a psychopath. But he's freakishly intelligent. He has every angle pre-thought and every exit strategy in place for whatever may come his way. The only weakness I noticed within the film is that nobody is even approaching Gyllenhaal's level here. Who can blame them though?
For me the most key player in the film is cinematography wizard Robert Elswit. In my opinion, he's amongst the absolute best working today, and nobody shoots Los Angeles quite like him. Of course shot on 35mm, the night time streets of LA are alive and very dangerous. The screen is crisp at every moment. No doubt that Gilroy knew what he was doing recruiting Elswit. This will be the second film this year featuring his phenomenal work behind the lens in LA (Inherent Vice coming in December) and once again he creates a Los Angeles that's familiar yet mischievous. The city is the strongest supporting character in the film.
Nightcrawler doesn't warrant repeat viewings, because it fulfills all you expect in the first go around. Gyllenhaal is a revelation. His character is one of the most intriguing we've seen in years. It's as much a satire of the disgusting business of news reporting, as it is a night time thriller. Throw your money to the screen. This is a hardworking film that deserves it for a change.