Nightcrawler (2014)
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton
Director: Dan Gilroy
Country: USA
Genre: Crime | Drama
Official Trailer: Here
Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of our coverage of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. For more information on the festival visit http://tiff.net and follow TIFF on Twitter at @TIFF_NET.
Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhal) is a demented shell. He’s a petty thief and crazy lonely man whose educated himself through motivational speaker rhetoric. One night he happens upon a freelance news cameraman (Bill Paxton) zooming into a car crash. Fascinated by the lure of big bucks and success, Bloom pawns a stolen bike in return for a cheap camera thus beginning his new career as a nightcrawler, searching for lead that bleeds.
Robert Elswit’s lens is sleek and takes on a Miami Vice-like palette. Heart-stopping chase scenes take on a 80s retro aesthetic, illuminating an LA that is both continually bustling with happenings, but feels impeccably stuck in time.
Nighttime Los Angeles serves as a film noir co-star to Bloom. As his red Dodge Charger races to the next crime scene, the city’s lights buff up our protagonist and his almost reluctant co-pilot, Rick (Riz Ahmed). Robert Elswit’s (There Will Be Blood) lens is sleek and takes on a Miami Vice-like palette. Heart-stopping chase scenes take on a 80s retro aesthetic, illuminating an LA that is both continually bustling with happenings, but feels impeccably stuck in time. The James Newton Howard soundtrack, at times jarring in its contrasting tones, adds to the general disconnection with character, setting, and viewers. As Bloom runs around moving dead bodies for the best shot, or breaking into crime scenes to get the news first, the music goes from ominous to strangely triumphant. This is the trick of the film. By creating this feeling of confusing sound-scene tension we aren’t allowed to empathize with Bloom, nor are we allowed to turn away in disgust, instead we sit there transfixed by Bloom’s immoral progression, accepting sick humor with approving laughter.
Jake Gyllenhaal lost twenty or so pounds to physically transform himself for the role. His face takes on the appearance of a skeletal mask, soulless bug eyes, that make him look like he’s on the verge of a psychotic break. He doesn’t walk into a room, he stalks or awkwardly sneaks around, spouting self help speech in response to every situation. This is why there’s no substance to his character. We know nothing of Bloom’s history, or family, and there’s no evidence of friends. He’s an archetype of a person built out of society’s superficialities. There’s an interesting shot of him waiting in a diner that is great example of what he is all about. Bloom sits alone, placing himself in the middle of the giant booth. He stares off, beyond the table, into the ether. He could be plotting or dreaming or even just not thinking about anything at all. In that booth, he’s in control and in command at all times. He writes things down on a notebook, a classic motivational guru’s way of expressing power through material ownership of information. Ahmed does an amazing job as his painfully vulnerable co-star. He’s the anchor in the Bloom maelstrom.
Nightcrawler has been compared to Taxi Driver, Drive, and many other lonely man movies…although I am quite tired of this type of character, the brilliance in it lies in Gilroy’s take on it.
Rene Russo does a great job as the success thirsty television director. Her aging character is competitively cut-throat and responds to Bloom’s character with an equally disturbing call for “The perfect story is a screaming woman with her throat cut running down a street in a good neighborhood.” If this is true in real life, then how true is the news if it’s more about the ratings than the actual news? Of course, this isn’t an original idea, in the least, and I don’t believe Gilroy is beating us over the head with a grandiose message. In fact, a character such as Bloom is more a symptom of the overlooked maniac loner that feeds off of media’s plastic ideas of success and glamor. At one point Bloom stands in front of a newsroom’s wallpaper rendition of the city, looks up with tears in his eyes and says, “On television it looks so real.”
Nightcrawler has been compared to Taxi Driver, Drive, and many other lonely man movies. I can see why it can disturb and although I am quite tired of this type of character, the brilliance in it lies in Gilroy’s take on it. Nightcrawler’s lonely man may be a highly unbalanced corrupt individual, but he is the walking dead: a zombie with a camera that we all yield.
Nightcrawler has been compared to Taxi Driver, Drive, and many other lonely man movies. I can see why it can disturb and although I am quite tired of this type of character, the brilliance in it lies in Gilroy’s take on it. Nightcrawler’s lonely man may be a highly unbalanced corrupt individual, but he is the walking dead: a zombie with a camera that we all yield.
