Nightcrawler is Gyllenhaal's starmaker performance

Rating: 10/10 (1 December 2014)

Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler is a bit of an unusual film. First off, Gilroy has never directed a feature film, or anything else to my knowledge. His start came with screen writing. The only particularly worthy bit of writing Gilroy has the credit for would be an interesting 2006 film called The Fall. Other than that his screenplays have mostly been for box office fodder like Real Steel or more recently The Bourne Legacy. Yet out of nowhere Gilroy both writes and directs a small film called Nightcrawler with not only Jake Gyllenhaal but also veterans such as Rene Russo and Bill Paxton. I say small because this film only had a budget of $8-million. Believe it or not that is actually small compared to most movies you see at the theatre. Compared with the $125-million budget of Gilroy's previous screen writing venture The Bourne Legacy an $8-million film is an indie. However, what Nightcrawler lacks in budget it makes up for in heart and storytelling.
Gyllenhaal is a tour-de-force in Nightcrawler. His character, Lou Bloom, is a wayward young man. The first time we see Lou it is in the early dark of night. He has a trunk full of stripper copper wire, and is in the process of cutting out a section of chain link fence. After decking a security guard, and stealing his watch, Lou visits a construction site where he proceeds to auction off the fence and wire. Right away the message is clear: Lou is a scavenger. Through mere coincidence he ends up witnessing a brutal car crash. As two police officers try rescuing the injured driver, Lou watches a guerilla television crew trying to get exclusive, gruesome footage of the accident. Lou asks a member of the crew (Paxton) if he could get a job, but is shooed away. On the morning news Lou sees the same footage he witnessed being taped the night before. This chance encounter leads to a new obsession Lou sets his sights on.
Essentially the film is a look at our modern society. Gyllenhaal plays a seriously motivated and possibly very unstable young go-getter who only wants to find something at which he can be successful. I believe Gilroy is attempting to present a look at not only how the media is a cutthroat and vicious business, but how we as modern viewers are also demanding more and more of this extreme footage. No longer are news channels simply a NASDAQ scroll on the bottom of the screen while reporters talk about elections and local events. Today the news is almost like a horror film reel at times from images of war to school shootings. Lou Bloom represents the younger generations today, and how we widely hold the view that anything can be a career. Even in this case, where Lou risks his own safety and the safety of those around him to get even 60-seconds of footage to auction off for television networks. In a day and age where the grotesqueness of reality television dominates ratings it isn't hard to imagine there are already plenty of Lou Blooms already out there exploiting car crashes and victims of gun violence for money.
Most reviews of Nightcrawler have been positive and I can't disagree: it is a cracking good film. Technology aside, it reminds me of a movie we could very well have seen in the 1960s. Gyllenhaal himself is worth the price of admission. He physically embodies the character of Lou; the way he walks and talks all frame him as a ghoul, out in the night to find dead bodies and other nasty business. It's really remarkable to see the young kid from Donnie Darko continually choose challenging, unique roles. Another thing I particularly liked about this film is the lack of a forced love story. Gilroy utilizes Rene Russo, playing a television a television network executive, here as a strong female character who is both complicated and flawed. He does not write her as a typical love interest so common in a lot of other mainstream films. Although there are a few sexually charged moments between Gyllenhaal and Russo, the film never falls prey to pushing anything in our faces, and stops very short; the plot never gets bogged down with unnecessary love scenes of any kind.
I can't help giving this a full ten star recommendation. Though I often try to avoid nitpicking a film to death because it ruins the fun, I'm definitely capable of admitting when a movie is not the greatest. Even if it's one I personally enjoy. But there is nothing about Nightcrawler I can pick apart. It's a refreshing film with a tight script, beautiful camera-work, and a genuinely starmaker performance from Jake Gyllenhaal. Get out and see this. Now.