Gyllenhaal-aissance is officially on fire now

Rating: 8/10 (8 December 2014)

A cinema-going to continually witness Jake Gyllenhaal's unstoppable resurgence to be the most versatile and ardent actor among his peers. After last year's one-two punch PRISONERS (2013, 8/10) and ENMEY (2013, 8/10), NIGHTCRAWLER is screenwriter Dan Gilroy's director debut, set in L.A., the title refers to hired hands who usually drift at night, as soon as any accident or crime happens, they will rush to the scene and take lurid photos and videos, then sell them to the local media for highest bid. Gyllenhaal's Louis Bloom is one of them, he is so good at it and professes that he is born to do this job, what's more chilling is that he is a callous sociopath with no moral boundary, even more shockingly is the society not only condones him, but encourages and rewards him bountifully.
Gyllenhaal physically morphs into a slightly-built figure with his back a shade contorted, the weight-lost stunt now has become quite a norm in the industry (works wonderful for McConaussaince and Jared Leto in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB 2013, 7/10), and here it injects an ineffaceable first impression of Louis' character, makes his extra-widely-open eyes purposefully dominant, firstly one cannot help rooting for him because of his underdog confidence, for his ambition and obsession is so scorchingly determined, the performance is nothing but Oscar-worthy, Gyllenhaal stuns as one of the most dangerous and compelling sociopath ever on the screen, noticeably his barely-blinking bluntness, if one can recall his eccentric blinking in PRISONERS, you will realize how phenomenal he is, the devil is all in the details.
Louis is not a guy deserves admiration, he is covetous, crafty, glib-tongued with mechanical oration, intriguingly he is also rather candid, both with his guileless assistant Rick (Ahmed) and with the Nina (Russo), the producer of the local TV news program, who stands for the usual haughty stereotype of media personage with a sole rate-seeking guideline. Russo shoulders on an intensely passive aggressive verbal battle with Gyllenhaal, and the mutual influences are being put under the magnifying glass with pungent smell, which will effectively give us some introspection to chew on afterward. In a modern capitalistic society, how far we have been gone? Dehumanising individuals in order to pursue success, this is the underbelly of humanity which Gilroy is gutsy enough to uncover, equally praiseworthy is Ahmed, he represents a realistic take on how crazy things are and his upshot is the harshest indictment of the encroaching injustice.
The film mainly happens in the nighttime, Oscar-winner DP Robert Elswit (THERE WILL BE BLOOD, 2007 9/10) capture the nocturnal seediness in a subdued tinge, evokes an uncanny tension whenever Louis is on the move, exploits the found-footage gambit to state a point. Also the car-chasing piece near the end is a masterful endeavor, on the whole the entire film is utterly gripping like an urban tale itself, though he might miss an Oscar nomination due to fierce competition and the dark subject matter, but for sure Gyllenhaal-aissance is officially on fire now! Next stop is Antoine Fuqua's boxer-drama SOUTHPAW, it will not just be another impressive physique sea change on the horizon.