Brilliant character study addressing multiple problems within society

Rating: 10/10 (11 July 2016)

The film nightcrawler manages to develop a character that isn't quite human, missing traits like empathy. Gyllenhaal's depiction serves as a vehicle to show how this shell of a man can succeed in our society, and in fact does better than others. Walking away from the film I understood a few main messages it had addressed,
1. that media is manipulative and callas, being a factor how we, as people feel about issues such as death; as displayed in the film; without care at all if it impacts an unknown.
2. society doesn't truly care about ethics, we prefer money; demonstrated well throughout the film by the character arcs of Rick and Nina.
3. The corrosive elements of poor mental health; I definitely believe Lou was a sociopath, he treated his plant with more care than any other character throughout. His cruelty escalated more and more throughout; resulting in blackmail and essentially murder.
Overall this film pulls many, perfect punches that had me wanting to analyse and re-watch it over and over. Props to the director and writer Dan Gilroy who managed to create an engaging and meaningful film, also to Gyllenhaal for the convincing and menacing performance.
10/10