The Ticket

Rating: Null/10 (8 November 2014)

After 'Kill the messenger', another one shot on film rather than digital.
A side note on this topic - I love both media, and I hate the fact that, like religion or politics, the choice to shoot on film (Nolan and his ilk) and digital (Abrams for one, Michael Mann, and their ilk) is divvying up audiences/nerds alike. I think the ones standing for each, and deriding the so-called opposing camp are complete idiots, missing the point of the other, and the film-makers who exercise their choices. To them - just go watch the damn movie first, and then go rant all you want.
After making the note that I did, that this one was shot on film, and also noting that it looked (and sounds sometimes) like one of my favorite movies of a couple years back, 'Drive', I just lost myself in good ol' film-making. I couldn't care less if it was 3D, IMAX, film or digital. That's the power of film-makers such as Dan Gilroy, who helmed this one, where it's all about the flick, and the craft is just a tool he uses to narrate a good ol' tale.
Everything else serves solely in narrating the tale. Did not know Gilroy had this amount of latent talent for directing hidden in him - I'm glad he got funding for this project, and was able to bring his vision to the screen without making too many compromises. His film- making style, also evoked memories of how his brother, Tony, handled the narration, as well as the build-up to each set-piece, in 'The Bourne Legacy' (a vastly underrated movie in its own right, for which Dan wrote the screenplay as well, so there). I confess enjoying the Tarsem Singh directed 'The Fall' as well, which is another underrated movie IMO.
Back to Nightcrawler though - there is no shaky-cam, and though I have nothing against the Greengrass kind of film-making either, this movie is well-served by that choice as well. The tale, and each of its twists and accompanying turns imparts the sense or urgency needed each time, and additional style is not a necessity in manipulating our emotions to force us to feel the same. No mean achievement that.
I could not watch Jake Gyllenhaal in anything. He was an absolute revelation in 'Brothers' to me, though that was a remake, it might actually have been the superior version for his presence, and performance. Then came 'Source Code', 'End of Watch', 'Prisoners' ("then came", in the sense of my chronology of watching a Gyllenhaal flick, not that he made that next), which was followed by 'Enemy' - each almost a role more difficult than the one that came before, or a peer in terms of how difficult it must've been to be cast for in the first place, work on, then successfully pull it off. He embodied them all with aplomb. It's almost like he can never, ever, choose to be any lesser material ('Prince of Persia' notwithstanding). A-grade stuff only. We're definitely lucky to be able to witness this streak of his, in these times. As to playing this character, he completely owns it, and the writing is of a class that you hang on to every word he's (motor) mouthing, even though you know he's (character-wise) not someone you'll feel comfortable empathizing with, or even sympathizing with (pardon the wordplay - but believe you me, it is very much contextual, and relevant). You also know that he's basically regurgitating stuff he read from various self-help books, and you don't mind, since he has a way of making those words count, and feel incredibly creepy at the same time that you're not sure what's gonna explode next. Rene Russo gets a rare chance, post Lethal Weapon 3, to really sink her teeth into something, and though I feel that perhaps 2/3 scenes with her have been left either on the editing floor, or in the censorship office, she manages to more than hold her own nevertheless, and that's no mean feat acting opposite our very own Darko. Riz Ahmed, known to audiences from his fantastic turn in the comedic masterpiece, '4 Lions', and to a lesser extent, from 'The reluctant fundamentalist' and 'Close Circuit', turns in another fantastic and earthy flawed character and makes it his own, and his character's complete arc is something to behold. Powerful stuff, and perfectly cast. It's been a while since I saw Bill Paxton (what a nice coupla years for him too - 'Edge of tomorrow', '2 Guns', 'Million Dollar Arm'), and he's the original Nightcrawler here (remember 'Near Dark'? or 'Frailty'?). His arc is quite possibly the most powerful of all, and is quite breathtaking to behold.
I am leaving a lot of stuff out, since one should enjoy the movie and be surprised/shocked with each plot twist, otherwise it's like reading the last page of the book and then starting from the beginning again, and though it might work for some, it doesn't for the most of us.
After a disappointing soundtrack on a movie of the stature of 'Gone Girl', it's refreshing to find a movie that has a strong soundtrack like this one does. Nic Ratner / Brian Ross, supervising the score composed by James Newton Howard, give one of the most eclectic scores, I've heard in a while now, and there's hope yet for crime noir.
And oh, on 'Gone girl', compare the activities of the media in that one, to the same (kinda) elements that are front-and-center here. In one conversation that a lead character (all leads are morally corrupt and bereft of anything remotely resembling a conscience ) has with the sole voice-of- reason, you'll feel disgusted, disappointed and scared in turns . :-)
Big screen only, folks.