An Elegant Exercise in Style

Rating: 8/10 (30 April 2015)

Lou Bloom is a man without boundaries. He has no family, no history, and few emotions. We first happen upon him demonstrating his sheer disregard for confines of any sort by cutting through a fence to steal scrap metal. When he is confronted by a private security guard, he attacks the man and steals his watch. In a common theme throughout the movie, Lou gives no thought to consequences and none are forthcoming.
Later, Lou watches a freelance videographer show up at the scene of a car accident seconds after the police, recording graphic footage that will fetch hundreds of dollars from local television news stations. Unencumbered by barriers that would hold back members of the audience, Lou steals a bike to pay for a video camera and begins shooting daring and aesthetic visuals at crime scenes. "If you're seeing me," he says, "you're having the worst day of your life."
The film's antihero is played immaculately by Jake Gyllenhaal, who prepared for the role by losing 20 pounds and memorizing the entire script like a play. And it is a script worth memorizing, or at least reading. It conveys by itself the mood that will stay with you long after the story has been forgotten. Among the many fascinating details in the script are the scenes in which Lou Bloom pitches in the convincing fashion of a slick George Clooney character, but the scene is not so contrived, the screenwriter not so kind, and Lou's persuasion is not quite compelling enough. These conversations are unnerving and surreal in a way we haven't seen before.
This movie has respect for acting and writing, but also for craft. It is well shot in understated noir, and the scenes that take place during the day are like a breath of fresh air, a break in tension, before we fill our lungs and submerge again into the night. The directing is atmospheric and obsessive, raw and minimal. Where it could degrade into mayhem, it is instead an elegant exercise in style.
8/10