Nightcrawler is the debut film of Dan Gilroy, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, a very driven, creepy, and at times frightening man who stumbles upon the world of L.A. freelance crime journalism. He discovers this, and realizes it can be something he can really be good at, so we follow his character as he climbs his way up the career ladder, doing anything necessary to get to the top.
This is a pretty unsettling film. Director Dan Gilroy did a phenomenal job on this film.The commentary on the current state of new outlets was very well handled. It wasn't so much of commentary on media manipulation, but more of how much they can show and how much they want us to see, how the media sees these injured and deceased people as stories rather than human beings, and also media vulturism. I thought that Gilroy handled those really well.
The film is also very sharp and sleek. It's very well paced, not a lot of fat on it. The way he handled the dark humor, the still moments of horror throughout, and also some the rapid car chase scenes. The score by James Newton Howard was great, really complimented the tone of the film. The cinematography by Robert Elswit is just amazing. The tagline of the film is "The city shines brightest at night" and now I believe it. He captured that perfectly and so beautifully. He literally lit up the screen.
Also, Jake Gyllenhaal, man. Throw all your gold statues at him, because wow, that was an extraordinary performance. He just became the character, a character I can best describe as a ticking time bomb that you're just waiting to go off. He was so creepy, calculating, insane and disturbing, it's just hard to get that smile out of your head. I mean, Lou's just talking about his work plan, and I'm going back and forth between cowardly leaned back and curiously on the edge of my seat. Probably my favorite performance of the year so far.
It goes more than just the performance too, his character was also really well-written and presented in the film. He's a sociopath, there's no real debate on that, but the film never really punishes him for you. Noooo, you do that in your head. It allows you to be the one to judge him.
Nightcrawler is creepy, unsettling, and an insane thrill ride through the the nighttime world of L.A. crime journalism. Jake Gyllenhaal gives probably the best performance of his career. Dan Gilroy gives us the ideal directorial debut, and I'd say Nightcrawler is a must-see film.
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