film review: nightcrawler

Ever wondered how the grisly footage of a fiery accident’s twisted aftermath graces your television on the evening news? Thank the appropriately termed “nightcrawler,” the professional that makes a living pursuing life’s many tragedies so that we may revel in their morbid trade. Such calamitous work demands speed, and bidding the most intimate and grittiest angles of local misfortune to the newsroom first is the average stringer’s dream.

Nightcrawler is the directorial debut for not-so newcomer Dan Gilroy that sees Jake Gyllenhaal lead the cast as the film’s vindictive and morally questionable protagonist, Louis Bloom. Already gaining momentum as the film destined to cement the screenwriter as the industry’s newest competition, Gilroy wastes no time producing an offering that is refreshing, provocative, and unrestrained.

Bloom engages in petty crime and survives on a cycle of street roaming and theft, plying his criminal achievements as a primary source of income. After an encounter between an amateur film crew led by Joe (Bill Paxton), Lou is inspired to undertake the more profitable pursuit of “nightcrawling” – a field where his crafty talents can be put to greater use.

Armed with a police radio and a handheld camera, the budding nightcrawler submits to no legal or moral creed but one: if it bleeds, it leads. No one is better suited to seek out such misfortunes than the sociopathic Lou, a peculiar character brilliantly portrayed by Gyllenhaal in what may be the greatest performance of his career. His goal is simple: find newsworthy crime and film it. How the simple task elicits such complexity is where Gilroy imparts his genius. Bloom’s predisposition to do just about anything to land the morning’s lead story levels an accusation at the dubious methods of an industry that urges him to deliver bloody spectacles on a daily basis. Not only a filmic exploration of Bloom’s complicated mind, Nightcrawler is a dual criticism of the media’s power to dangerously dictate social discourse and the ways in which morality is often held ransom to the news cycle’s demands.

After selling his first footage of a local car-jacking to  Nina Romina (Rene Russo), the chief producer of the city’s lowest-rated news station, Lou returns with a promise to regularly deliver the dread that could boost the program out of its long-running slump.. Their strictly professional acquaintance leads to a relationship of exploitation, a breeding ground to expose their similarly-twisted psyches. The true nature of the industry unravels throughout its course as a ruthless entity savouring all opportunities to instil fear and neglect its duty to deliver absolute truth.

The need to outdo himself and outrun his competition leads Lou to enlist the help of Rick (Riz Ahmed), a desperate intern to assist him as the stakes increase. Decisions must be made on the fly when confronted by LA’s night-time horrors, testing the monstrous capability of the human condition that proves the film’s greatest quality. As Lou goes to greater and more devious lengths to advance his budding career, he sings the same frightening tune as a Scorsese lead. He has been compared to Taxi Driver’s pathological antihero Travis Bickle; I’d say he’s more like The King of Comedy’s Rupert Pupkin. All three mutually obsess over their own crafted visions of the world, and take these fantasies to extreme ends as though grand controllers of life devoid of humanistic consideration for the destruction that may follow.

Manipulating crime scenes and compelling others to comply with his method, we seem to catch only a glimpse of a character much larger than Nightcrawler can contain. The stringer’s progression towards a dark path of increasing corruption becomes a disturbing experience to test Lou’s seemingly non-existent limits. Further unsettling is just how quickly I came to support his descent, eager to see how far Lou would truly go. My sadistic reciprocation is the very same exposition that Gilroy intends, successfully pushing our moral capacities whilst placing us on trial with absolute, and perhaps necessary exposure.

Such a multi-faceted investment is what grants Nightcrawler a feat that goes far beyond narrative. Placing the industry under a critical microscope whilst simultaneously probing humanity is particularly epitomised in the many moral sacrifices made by Lou and Nina for the sake of improving commercial ratings. A veteran of the trade, Romina regards the industry as a callous machine personified as a screaming woman, running down the street with her throat cut, thriving in its turmoil as we all secretly marvel with undivided attention.

Though outwardly guided by confronting social commentary and fascinating character development, it certainly does not detract from the pleasing efforts of cinematographer Robert Elswit, who once more delivers the same visual grit of American corruption previously lent to Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 thriller There Will Be Blood or the damp, brooding feeling of The Town (2010). Plunged into Nightcrawler’s noir-ish darkness where Bloom takes advantage of California’s twilight hours, the backdrop of an urban nightmare is as appropriately unsettling as he and his unwilling partner continue their scavenge. Awaiting the calls to an horrific downtown car accident or gruesome triple murder up in the city’s affluent Granada Hills, the carnivorous antihero hungers for more than profitable content, but for the same unceasing gratification that the industry readily inspires. And just as you think the darkness may be too dim, bouts of critically timed humour cut through its tension and ease you momentarily before throwing you head first into the deep end once more.

Whether sickened by the film’s knowingly flawed characters or inspired by their brazen determination, Nightcrawler wants to leave its mark and make a firm lead that will not be soon forgotten.