To win the lottery, you have to make the money to buy a ticket. Nightcrawler is a wicked thriller

Rating: 8/10 (11 December 2014)

Set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles, Nightcrawler tells the disturbing story of a career driven young man, Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) who find that shooting footage of accidents and crimes in Los Angeles to sell to news channels is big business. Aided by Nina (Rene Russo), a veteran TV news producer, Lou blurs the line between observer and participant to dangerous new heights. Directed and written by first time director, Dan Gilroy is indeed a character driven story, as Jake Gyllenhaal really pull, no stops when it comes to Lou Bloom. Note the subtly of Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. He speaks in an eerie monotone. He speaks like an evil business motivational speaker who acts like he's for your best interested, but in truth, he's manipulating the people around him to get his way. This part remind me of something out of 2000's American Psycho. The way, he tries hard to hide his alternate motive and his psychopathic ego from his co-workers with a hollow smile and articulate demeanor. You can tell that he's misanthrope, who could snap in any minute. I like how he asks so eagerly for a job. How his eyebrows jot up during his little speech, displaying that this has all been thought out well beforehand, like he has rehearsed what he would say. Then, how he tries to hide his disappointment to mask his pride when things don't go his way. It was very creepy. Gyllenhaal might have got too into the character, as he literally hurt himself, during filming. A good example of this is the mirror scene, where he end up cutting his hand. When, it comes to his extreme weight lost for the film, it's scary how sharped, his skinny gaunt body tone does makes him look ghoulish as if a man who hasn't sleep in years. Remind me of Gollum. It makes him look metaphoric and physical hungry to get anything, he wants. It's like watching a 'Car crash'. In a way, you don't want to root for the guy, but you can't help, watching how captivating and unnerving, he can be. Clearly, an award nomination is worthy, for sure for Jake Gyllenhaal. Even supporting characters like Rene Russo really stand out, despite her, not acting in many of movies, as of late. Plus, she pretty attractive at her mature age. If anything can be said, against the film is that it wasn't disturbing enough. The violence in the film is pretty tame and not that graphic, compare to other dark movie concepts like 1976's Taxi Driver. This movie serves more like a dark satire social commentary of how dark the media can be. It reminds me, so much of 2014 David Fincher's film, 'Gone Girl', on how much, the media can be both dishonesty and devious. It kinda makes real life news people like Kent Shocknek, Sharon Tay, and Pat Harvey look like lying jerks. While, the movie is mostly fiction, there are some true in how cut-throat the news business can be. Unlike it portray on film, I doubt in real life, a news station would be able to show a lot of graphic footage. Still, I can see a story being change, to push an adjective on somebody. There has been examples of that in the past of people acting like vulture, feeding on other people's misery. The film also touch upon, the unhappiness that comes with a troubled economy. While, Nightcrawler makes 'stringers' seem like they can make big money off of filming tragedy, in reality, there isn't much money to be earned. Yes, a stringer could bag several thousand dollars for the right footage, but most of the time, local news operations are really unwilling to open up their wallets for film footage when they can get it for free or find other multiply choices. The world has change, as a lot of people with digital media cameras are giving away footage for nothing, posting things on sites such as Youtube or Twitter. To make things worse, for stringers; Police encryption on scanners has also become an issue. Now, it's harder to listen in, to 911 dispatch calls. The movie serves more like a neo-noir fever dream of an L.A. than in real life. The movie might have some symbolism, after all, the movie title character is named Lou, as if he's basically named after Lucifer. Think of the story of Lucifer when you look into this film. How he fell from grace due to his over-demanding pride. How he tempted others through manipulation and a clever tongue. It's really no surprise, that Lou drives a bright red car through the shallow streets of Los Angeles at night. Could, Nightcrawler be a symbol for evil? Who Knows? The mystery of the film makes it all engaging. This movie is indeed a thought-provoking film. One thing, the movie could had done better is the soundtrack. If anything, this movie needed Trent Reznor. I don't mind, James Newton Howard, but the film score sounds too generic. The cinematography could had work a little more. I like how the opening shots, but as the movie moves on, Gilroy's vision of modern-day Los Angeles isn't quite as visually sophisticated. I was really hoping, it would be just as beautiful as night films set in L.A like 2004's Collateral and 2011's Drive. Another problem of the film is its pacing. I believe the bitter ending went a little too long, and end unrealistic. How on earth, did he not get in trouble for the car chase? The film really didn't really end in a height note. Overall: it's a very skin-crawling film. This movie knows full well that these types of stories sell best, and Lou is happy to accommodate. In the movie words, what grabs the audience is "a woman running down the street, screaming, with her throat about to slit". Indeed, it felt like that.