Nightcrawler

Rating: 9/10 (20 May 2020)

Nightcrawler is a realistic and dark film about a sociopath turning a smaller buisness into an eventual larger business, by filming and manipulating gruesome crimes, in order to put them on the news, glorifying and instilling fear into the people. He does whatever it takes to get what we wants, innocent's dying, manipulating a womens career, almost setting up a brutal crime, by withh olding information from the police and allowing his "employee", to be killed. This film touches on the subject how news glorifies brutality, and how big corporations and the people part of them, will do whatever it takes to achieve higher, touching on the major theme and subject of the evil side of capitalism. Lou Bloom, searches for power, but also for meaning. He is a sociopath, and doesn't connect with or like people, and find his true place to grasp power and manipulate, through his news company. This film explores the worldview of capitalism, as Lou is a white male manipulating his minority employee, as he also explicitly states that the news wants urban crime leaking into the suburbs as stories, to instill fear. The cinematography, editing, lighting, and framing are dark, gritty are perfectly fitting. The script is brillant. Lou Bloom speaks like a person imitating a real person, and uses his false charming and manipulative words to lure his employee and Nina into his game. He has no formal education, he says he spends time on his computer trying to learn new skills and take in knowledge, in order for him to excel, as he speaks facts and demands with no understanding of any human elements behind them. He doesn't understand buisness ethics and doesn't know to function in society. The score is meant to be taken as it is from Bloom's perspective, as he believes that he truimphat, after manipulating a dead body into view of his camera. And at first, the audience is tricked into rooting for Bloom. Ome of the film's essential themes, is that us, the audience, lets bad people rise to power because they give us things. That the ones will all the power were the ones willing to do anything, and step on anyone to do it. This is implied by Nina a few times in the film, and the film also shows corrupt capitalism and its connection to racism. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance is amazing. The film's major theme is that it exposes the spirit of capitalism, and what the human spirit becomes in America. A character like Lou, who is disconnected from society, who probably wasn't correctly diagnosed, and gets all of knowledge through the internet and self help books, arrogant, emphatically bare, demanding and and succeeds through that. As this film takes the more realistic look at the underdog to riches story, and removes the downfall, as in Lou's case, he's only going to get more poweful. He is clever, with a learned and false sense of niceness. And in the beginning, Gilroy makes the audience almost feel sorry for Lou, with traits of likeable not relating to morality. The problem isnt Lou, the problem is the society that rewards him. The advantages of sociopathy in a capitalist society.