"If You Want To Win The Lottery, You Have To Make The Money To Buy A Ticket"

Rating: Null/10 (24 November 2014)

A thrilling masterwork of precision craftsmanship, an immensely fascinating vignette of the pursuit of American dream & a thought-provoking exposition of the dark side of TV news business, Nightcrawler is a firmly crafted, neatly structured, viciously executed & intensely entertaining thriller that presents its interesting premise in a very polished manner but what single-handedly elevates it to a whole new level is Jake Gyllenhaal's manic performance.
Set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles, Nightcrawler tells the story of Louis Bloom; a driven young man desperate for work who muscles into the cut-throat profession of L.A. crime journalism by filming murders, mayhem & accidents taking place throughout the city during nighttime and with the help of a local TV news veteran eventually succeeds in blurring the thin line between observer & participant to become the star of his own story.
Brilliantly written & fabulously directed by Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler is a blazing work of originality that marks a sensational directional debut for Gilroy & is presented in a very polished manner. Cinematography crisply captures the silent, almost deserted look of Los Angeles during nighttime & seamlessly encapsulates the whole picture with a quiet sense of foreboding tension. Editing is carried out in a concise, calculated manner while James Newton Howard's score simply fits.
Coming to the acting department, this is Jake Gyllenhaal's show all the way as his work here effortlessly overshadows every other input from the rest of its cast n crew. From the gaunt appearance to those unblinking eyes & creepy smirk, Gyllenhaal completely gets under the skin of Louis "Lou" Bloom and plays the sociopath with riveting finesse to carve out a jaw-dropping performance that's easily his career-best work. Supporting him are Rene Russo, Bill Paxton & Riz Ahmed who all chip in with vital contributions.
On an overall scale, Nightcrawler can be seen as a stinging satire of TV news business, a biting criticism of modern capitalist society & a contrary interpretation of American dream yet above all, it remains a deeply unsettling yet immensely fascinating character study of a fanatical sociopath. Ingeniously shifting its tones by blending subtle moments of humour into its dark ambiance and bolstered by Jake Gyllenhaal's coyote-like presence & bone-chilling performance, Nightcrawler is one of the best films of the year that comes highly recommended.