2014 - 117 minutes - Crime/Drama/ThrillerDirector: Dan Gilroy
Country: United States
IMDB: 8.4
Metacritic: 76
RT: 94%
EpicEnthusiast's Rating: B+
Watch this movie if you enjoy:
- crime dramas
- dark films
- Jake Gyllenhaal
Avoid this movie if you dislike:
- violent crime
- dark films
- satire
If you're a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal, you should go see Nightcrawler. If you enjoy crime thrillers, you should go see Nightcrawler. If you like dark films, or films that may be more than originally meets the eye, you should go see Nightcrawler.
And if you you're interested in journalism, you need to go see Nightcrawler.
In his directorial debut, Dan Gilroy gives us a story centered around Louis Bloom, a shady thief living in the underworld of Los Angeles. Bloom resorts to stealing metals and bikes for money until he drives by a nasty car crash on the highway and decides to stop. Along with the police and medical crew, he sees someone filming the fiery wreck. As officers pull an injured women out of the car, Bloom, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is standing there not horrified, but fascinated. He approaches the camera man with questions immediately, and even asks if he's hiring as he's leaving the scene.
Just like that, a nightcrawler is born.
The trailers for Nightcrawler emphasize the more action-packed sequences of Bloom's plunge into Los Angeles crime journalism, and while those bits of the film certainly stand out, Gilroy's film is much more of a character study than it is an action flick.
In the opening shot, we see Bloom attempting to cut a fence so he can sell it for scrap metal. He's soon approached by a security guard in the dark, who wonders what he's doing. Gilroy then strategically has the guard point a flashlight on Bloom's face to illuminate his gaudy structure and put emphasize on his eerily stoic dialogue. From the get-go, you're led to believe that Gyllenhaal isn't going to be playing one of his charming protagonists.
In fact, Nightcrawler may not even have a protagonist. But Gyllenhaal dominates the screen like one, and puts forth a performance that will be remembered as one of the best of his career. To prepare for his role as Bloom, he lost 20 pounds and biked or ran to the set each day. It's clear that Gyllenhaal is far more than familiar with his character — he immerses himself in him.
Everything from manically screaming into a bathroom mirror to putting his hair up into a "man bun" before his adrenaline spikes is executed with control and impact, and his embracement of Gilroy's characterization drives Nightcrawler throughout. Gilroy couples a tactical use of the camera to thoroughly uncover surroundings with Gyllenhaal's charisma to bring his lead man to a chilling life.
And while Nightcrawler marks his first time directing his own screenplay, Gilroy's writing experience shows. With the exception of a few forced one-liners, his dialogue is both fitting and provoking and his cast capitalizes on what they had to work with. Notably strong is Rene Russo, who plays a news director at a Los Angeles news station that Bloom sells his footage to.
Similar to his actors, Gilroy takes advantage of the Los Angeles landscape with some stunning cinematography. Sweeping shots of the city are aesthetically pleasing and establish an absorbing atmosphere. Like Nicolas Winding Refn did before him with Drive, Gilroy makes the metropolis a theme of his film and proves that nightcrawling in Los Angeles is unlike nightcrawling anywhere else.
In the end, though, Nightcrawler's strong production value gets pushed aside by a light-hearted, but gripping message. At one point in the film, when another lead character seemingly adopts the philosophy of the deranged Bloom, Gilroy's true reasoning breaches the surface. He isn't just attempting to tell the story of some monster that stumbles upon the world of freelance crime journalism in one of the country's biggest cities — he's speaking to the industry as a whole.
Bloom's character alone sparks questions of ethics and morality, but so does journalism. In world where news is demanded immediately, technology rules, and journalism is one big competition, is it possible that someone like Bloom — who at one point in the movie drags a dead body into better lighting for his camera — could be feeding the public information?
More than anything else, Nightcrawler explores questions like this. It pokes fun at the current state of the media, but also presents a potentially alarming scenario. It manages to be serious, disturbing, comical, dark, and thought-provoking, all at the same time.
Gilroy's film is ultimately bogged down by a few unnecessary scenes, some rigid editing, and a soundtrack that sometimes doesn't have an identity — that makes you wonder what its purpose is — but it's a ride worth taking. If not for its visuals, then for its voice. If not for Gyllenhaal's performance, then for Gilroy's style.
Even more rare than a simultaneously satirical, edgy crime drama is a film that poses a relevant and purposeful question. Nightcrawler is one of those films and its pacy entertainment is just a bonus.
-EE
As of November 9th, 2014 Nightcrawler is in theaters everywhere. Here's the trailer:
And if you you're interested in journalism, you need to go see Nightcrawler.
In his directorial debut, Dan Gilroy gives us a story centered around Louis Bloom, a shady thief living in the underworld of Los Angeles. Bloom resorts to stealing metals and bikes for money until he drives by a nasty car crash on the highway and decides to stop. Along with the police and medical crew, he sees someone filming the fiery wreck. As officers pull an injured women out of the car, Bloom, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is standing there not horrified, but fascinated. He approaches the camera man with questions immediately, and even asks if he's hiring as he's leaving the scene.
 |
| Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom |
The trailers for Nightcrawler emphasize the more action-packed sequences of Bloom's plunge into Los Angeles crime journalism, and while those bits of the film certainly stand out, Gilroy's film is much more of a character study than it is an action flick.
In the opening shot, we see Bloom attempting to cut a fence so he can sell it for scrap metal. He's soon approached by a security guard in the dark, who wonders what he's doing. Gilroy then strategically has the guard point a flashlight on Bloom's face to illuminate his gaudy structure and put emphasize on his eerily stoic dialogue. From the get-go, you're led to believe that Gyllenhaal isn't going to be playing one of his charming protagonists.
In fact, Nightcrawler may not even have a protagonist. But Gyllenhaal dominates the screen like one, and puts forth a performance that will be remembered as one of the best of his career. To prepare for his role as Bloom, he lost 20 pounds and biked or ran to the set each day. It's clear that Gyllenhaal is far more than familiar with his character — he immerses himself in him.
Everything from manically screaming into a bathroom mirror to putting his hair up into a "man bun" before his adrenaline spikes is executed with control and impact, and his embracement of Gilroy's characterization drives Nightcrawler throughout. Gilroy couples a tactical use of the camera to thoroughly uncover surroundings with Gyllenhaal's charisma to bring his lead man to a chilling life.
And while Nightcrawler marks his first time directing his own screenplay, Gilroy's writing experience shows. With the exception of a few forced one-liners, his dialogue is both fitting and provoking and his cast capitalizes on what they had to work with. Notably strong is Rene Russo, who plays a news director at a Los Angeles news station that Bloom sells his footage to.
Similar to his actors, Gilroy takes advantage of the Los Angeles landscape with some stunning cinematography. Sweeping shots of the city are aesthetically pleasing and establish an absorbing atmosphere. Like Nicolas Winding Refn did before him with Drive, Gilroy makes the metropolis a theme of his film and proves that nightcrawling in Los Angeles is unlike nightcrawling anywhere else.
In the end, though, Nightcrawler's strong production value gets pushed aside by a light-hearted, but gripping message. At one point in the film, when another lead character seemingly adopts the philosophy of the deranged Bloom, Gilroy's true reasoning breaches the surface. He isn't just attempting to tell the story of some monster that stumbles upon the world of freelance crime journalism in one of the country's biggest cities — he's speaking to the industry as a whole.
Bloom's character alone sparks questions of ethics and morality, but so does journalism. In world where news is demanded immediately, technology rules, and journalism is one big competition, is it possible that someone like Bloom — who at one point in the movie drags a dead body into better lighting for his camera — could be feeding the public information?
Gilroy's film is ultimately bogged down by a few unnecessary scenes, some rigid editing, and a soundtrack that sometimes doesn't have an identity — that makes you wonder what its purpose is — but it's a ride worth taking. If not for its visuals, then for its voice. If not for Gyllenhaal's performance, then for Gilroy's style.
Even more rare than a simultaneously satirical, edgy crime drama is a film that poses a relevant and purposeful question. Nightcrawler is one of those films and its pacy entertainment is just a bonus.
-EE
As of November 9th, 2014 Nightcrawler is in theaters everywhere. Here's the trailer:
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