We’ve seen a fair share of hard-hitting, darkly funny, and perversely twisted films about the obtaining of the American Dream as of late. Movies like THE WOLF OF WALL STREET immediately spring to mind. NIGHTCRAWLER has a bit of that flavor too, only on a smaller scale. And rather than using the stock market as a backdrop, this film calls L.A. its home.
In NIGHTCRAWLER, a phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom, a creepy yet incredibly ambitious L.A. lowlife who ultimately finds his true calling in the form of journalistic videography. In a very short amount of time, Bloom’s uncanny knack for obtaining exclusive video footage scoops at various Los Angeles accident and crime scenes becomes the talk of the L.A. news world, thus giving this sleazeball a taste of success.
Gyllenhaal is all confident, wide-eyed menace here, and upon a quick glance, it’s perfectly clear that he and Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman (AMERICAN PSYCHO) would make great bowling partners. Gyllenhaal excels at creating a compelling monster of a man with zero moral compass. While Bloom is certainly an awful human being, you have to admire his moxie. His drive to be the best at what he does is only rivaled by his scum-sucking nature.
NIGHTCRAWLER gets a ton of mileage out of a terrific supporting cast, including Riz Ahmed as Bloom’s child-like right-hand man, Rene Russo as a TV news veteran looking to increase her ratings, and Bill Paxton as Bloom’s blowhard videographer rival.
Dan Gilroy’s direction and screenplay includes the kind of gritty look at big-city underground subculture you might expect from writer Paul Schrader (MEAN STREETS, TAXI DRIVER) and director Michael Mann (HEAT, COLLATERAL). The city is dark and gray, and the plot tends to focus on folks who will do just about anything to get ahead in life. NIGHTCRAWLER is also a shrewd indictment of modern media, depicting a television news world that is more interested in evoking fear rather than just simply reporting the facts.
In addition, NIGHTCRAWLER delves into the world of the modern business model and what it takes to make a business succeed, and while it certainly shows the darker side of this model, there’s a cold, hard truth at the heart of this particular depiction.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of NIGHTCRAWLER is its strangely insightful look at the pure love of filmmaking. When Bloom first starts out, he has very little knowledge of what it takes to shoot footage at these accident and crime scenes, but he’s a quick learner and before long, he’s framing shots and manipulating scenes for the purpose of stronger emotional effect. Oddly enough, the scenes featuring an obsessive Bloom grabbing footage sort of reminded me of a passionate, determined guerilla filmmaker putting a film project together… but granted, Bloom is far more menacing.
NIGHTCRAWLER is certainly flawed. There’s a moment between Bloom and Russo’s Nina Romina in the final act that feels incredibly cheesy and out of place, and there were times when I wondered why it took the police so damn long to get to a crime scene, when these videographers were showing up five minutes earlier. Those moments aside, this is a dark and compelling movie, featuring a mesmerizing turn by a committed Gyllenhaal. More importantly, though, NIGHTCRAWLER wins the coveted “Most Appropriately Fitting Movie Title of the Year” Award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8kYDQan8bw
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