Movies have always served as a type of escapism for audiences looking to step outside their own lives, even if for only two hours. Sometimes, though, the world into which we escape is more unsettling than our own reality. Nightcrawler is a nightmare ride along through a bleak world most of us will wish didn’t exist. It initiates us into a fraternity that comes alive between sunset and sunrise – sharing with vampires more than just their hours of operation – while we sleep safe and sound in our beds. Not only is Nightcrawler a pitch black study of human nature, it is one of the most psychologically powerful and beautifully composed films of the year.
Louis (or Lou) Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an ambitious guy willing to do anything to achieve his goals. And he has many goals. Louis is direct and painfully honest, speaking as if his voice literally cannot utter a lie or even half-truth. He wants to be a success and he doesn’t care what field or industry he makes his mark on as long as people know who he is. When he fortuitously finds himself at the scene of a car fire along a Los Angeles freeway, Lou observes the vocation from which he will build his empire. He will become a crime journalist, more pejoratively referred to as “nightcrawling.”
Studying his more experienced peers – particularly the cranky and territorial Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) – Lou begins soaking up everything about being a successful crime scene cameraman. He begins arriving at crime scenes (the bloodier, the better) and capturing footage other cameramen are too timid or respectful to film. This lack of empathy catapults Lou to the front of the pack, catching the attention of Nina Romina (Rene Russo), the nighttime news director of a local TV station who has almost as few scruples as Lou when it comes to the mantra “If it bleeds, it leads.” Soon, though, the same old footage is not good enough to satisfy Nina (or himself) and Lou inches closer and closer to the line between witnessing a crime and committing a crime all in an effort to be the best.
It is not an exaggeration to assert that Nightcrawler, in many ways, mirrors Jake Gyllenhaal’s 180 degree career turn in the last few years. After losing his way on blockbusters like The Day After Tomorrow and Prince of Persia, Gyllenhaal has jettisoned any concern for Hollywood fame in a single-minded focus to the craft of acting; a resolution very similar to the character of Lou. Gyllenhaal challenges himself emotionally and physically in Nightcrawler. He looks more like Christian Bale in The Machinist than himself, both in terms of weight loss and absolute dedication to the role. Lou is a jackal that hunts his prey in the night and doesn’t rest until his hunger is sated. Speaking as if he has memorized copy from a self-help website – which he probably has – Lou is a sociopath with a mind that works so quickly those around him barely have time to question the absurd statements he passes off as fact. With this incredible performance, Gyllenhaal joins Marlon Brando, Daniel Day-Lewis and Christian Bale as an actor who commits himself so fully to a role that to watch any other performance will be shock to one’s system.
In his feature film debut, writer/director Dan Gilroy has crafted a work of cinema that legions of more experienced filmmakers could only dream of achieving. Nightcrawler has a tone and visual approach to filmmaking very similar to Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive, a film which also prowls the Los Angeles streets in search of criminal activity. Gilroy doesn’t judge Lou for his predatory nature; he only wants to observe him in his natural habitat. As Lou becomes more accomplished and more confident (which is a scary concept to process), we see his manipulative nature evolve from subtle to direct, the only real change Lou undergoes in the film. One scene, which will likely vie for the best composed scene of the year, involves Lou inviting Nina out to dinner simply to get her to agree to a new working relationship, one which benefits him much more than it benefits her. We watch as the power shifts abruptly and irreversibly, solidifying Lou’s dominance. Gyllenhaal plays the scene with sheer brilliance and Gilroy captures it with a detached emotion akin to two strangers out on a first date. Another director may have played up the drama or tension, but Gilroy knows that those emotions don’t exist in this scene because for Lou, the outcome is as inevitable as the sun rising the next morning.
Nightcrawler is more viscerally engaging than any film in recent memory. It features an Oscar-caliber performance by Gyllenhaal and a new filmmaking voice that is not afraid to explore dark places and make audiences uncomfortable.
Grade: A+
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