The (Anti) Hero's Journey

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2020)

Nightcrawler is a gloriously dark journey through night-time Los Angeles, where Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is making a name for himself as a "stringer" - a freelance journalist who captures graphic footage of crime scenes, turning a profit by selling it to TV stations. Unlike many journalist protagonists who came before him, Lou doesn't endeavour to walk a tightrope between legitimate reporting and exploitative intrusion; instead, he shamelessly scavenges for the most provocative - and therefore most profitable - material, going so far as to engineer crime scenes to create the grisliest effect. Lou's manipulation of the world around him is not limited to the crimes he stages; rather, it extends to all aspects of his life, which he is able to manipulate to his advantage. Nightcrawler is a fantastic film because it delights in Lou's capacity to make his desires manifest, and depicts his tenacity and nerve with humour. It succeeds because it never defers to its audience with obligatory scenes, such as explaining away Lou's behaviour or doling out the justice that many audience members yearn for.
Nightcrawler attests to the power of cinematography to support characterisation and sub-text. A wide-angle lens is paired with shallow depth of field throughout the film, often rendering everything on screen out of focus except for Lou. This serves to reflect Lou's worldview, in which he is the only thing that matters. Lou's isolation from other people is reflected in the framing of shots, which frequently position him on his own rather than in over-the-shoulder or two-shots which would signify intimacy with other characters. Even when sharing the frame with another person, long shots are employed to suggest distance. As a result, Lou's aloneness in the world is palpable, his separation from society conveyed through visual techniques.
I found the scenes where Lou is capturing footage on his camera to be the most visually interesting. While the crime scenes and dead bodies that comprise Lou's subject matter are presented as blurry and out of focus through the film's lens, we can simultaneously see the images depicted with clarity through the viewfinder in Lou's camera. This demonstrates how Lou's interest in reality and the world around him is contingent on its purpose within the media, and ultimately his own success.
Nightcrawler could not have succeeded without Jake Gyllenhaal's fantastic portrayal of the voracious Louis Bloom. It was satisfying to watch Gyllenhaal cast against his usual type of wide-eyed ingenu here. His expressive eyes, usually employed to fawn over women in romantic comedies, are disturbingly repurposed in Nightcrawler to express his fascination with the suffering of others, and how it will serve his lofty ambitions. Gyllenhaal simultaneously conveys emotional detachment towards the world around him and emotional intensity towards that which is incidental to his success.
A reading of other reviews regarding Nightcrawler suggests there is a multitude of ways of reading this film. Some view the film as a commentary on the exploitative nature of the media, which capitalises on selling human suffering as entertainment. This perspective condemns the media for motivating behaviour such as Lou's. This is a weak argument, given that Lou's deviant behaviour is evident before he is rewarded for it. The media didn't create Lou, it is merely a convenient platform for him.
Nightcrawler has also been interpreted as a satire of millennial entitlement and the cultural adage that one can achieve anything as long as they try hard enough. Lou references the importance of hard work throughout the film, and even states "I was raised with the self-esteem movement so popular in schools". Further, Lou projects an exaggerated image of himself and his company (Video Production News) in a manner not dissimilar to the embellished social identities projected by millennials on social media platforms. The marketing campaign for Nightcrawler played on this concept by setting up Twitter and LinkedIn profiles for Louis Bloom, as well as posting a video resume on YouTube, thereby reflecting the bootstrapping ideology of millennial culture.

I take issue with the above interpretations, as they suggest that the film is condemning Lou's behaviour. In watching Nightcrawler it is clear that the film delights in Lou's tenacity and nerve, revelling in the absurdity of his behaviour. Thus, I prefer to read the film as a comment on embracing one's true nature rather than conforming to the social norm. The journey of Nightcrawler sees Lou progress from attempting to fit into a traditional lifestyle at the beginning - where he attempts to get an unpaid internship during the daytime - to accepting that he is at his best when separated from societal expectations. Lou discovers the world of stringer journalism, where his natural inclinations are rewarded. As a result, Lou is more powerful and more authentic when he exits the film than when he enters it. As such, Nightcrawler is ultimately a film about coming into your own and finding a path to expressing your true nature. It is about the triumph of authenticity over conformity, the triumph of the individual over society.