"Taxi Driver" for the digital age.

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2016)

Possibly the best thing about this movie was the mystery of Lou Bloom. We see early on that he has no issues with breaking the law or infringing upon ethics, but his dark personality is not introduced right away. Instead it is built upon gradually until we see what a monster he can be. Some of what makes him horrifying is what he does, like his forward and brusque dialogue with Nina over Mexican food and his filming of the mutilated Joe Loder (the rival nightcrawler). But what really is horrifying is what he doesn't do. He doesn't pay Rick or SPOILER do anything to prevent his eventual death. And he doesn't call the police about the evidence he finds for pivotal home break in that he films.
Initially, it seems that we are meant to like Lou as he gets mocked and rejected by his potential employers and his rival nightcrawler. Even in much of the trailer, he seems to be an active and moral protagonist that could even be someone that any of us might be friends with (excluding the yelling at the mirror clip). Eventually, this sympathy is turned toward Rick as he becomes the most human character we see and is mistreated to an extent by Lou. Nina is our secondary character that ends up playing a lot of roles in the story. She's an antagonist, a sidekick, an internal goal, a mentor, and a voice of reason at different points. Anyone who dislikes the way women are sometimes objectified, glorified, downplayed, under featured, or whatever else in movies need have no fear of encountering any of it with Nina's character. We can see that she treats Lou a bit differently from the people who work under her, which I think comes from her appreciation of Lou's genuine passion for his work even if that drives him to extreme measures.
The story follows Lou's progression in integrating himself into the TV news business as a nightcrawler. It features a number of crime scene that Lou films/fails to film/films incorrectly. There is no character development line of action for Lou outside of him becoming better at collecting material. Instead, what we might call the internal conflict comes in the progression of what the audience learns about Lou.
The execution was just short of fantastic. It definitely deserved its Oscar nomination for the screenplay and should have gotten another for Gyllenhall's performance and maybe even a best picture nom. The screenplay features some fabulous dialogue with only a couple of points where the pace lags. Gyllenhall's mostly low-key performance was one of the best I've seen in a while. Rene Russo did pretty well as Nina too, and Rick's actor didn't do bad either. The directing wasn't as notable as the above aspects, but was easily better than average.
It's categorized as a satire, but not the Mel Brooks kind of satire. It's satirical in the sense that it shows what goes on in the business world without actually showing it that much. But it's not funny even though the red trailer makes it seem that way. It's a little disturbing as a whole but more because of Lou's pathological qualities than the scattered graphic scenes. If you get bored with it at first, I would recommend watching until Lou goes to dinner with Nina and then see if you're still interested. Overall Rating: 8.4/10.