'Nightcrawler' review by Jake Boyle
While unfortunately not a spin-off about everybody's favourite German Catholic teleporting mutant, there's still a lot about Nightcrawler to get excited about. Jake Gyllenhaal playing determined and creepy has been a winning direction in the past, and with the release sandwiched between Gone Girl and the next installment of The Hunger Games, we're clearly at a peak time for social commentary on the media. It's not a small undertaking for a directorial debut (not even just of a feature film, Dan Gilroy's only previous experiences are writing credits) and definitely eye-catching in premise.
Louis Bloom, the protagonist of our story, is a spellbinding creation. Like a restrained Patrick Bateman, he is a nightmarish embodiment of stereotypical American entrepreneurial spirit. Taking a can-do attitude to a dangerous, sociopathic extent, Bloom talks entirely in professional-sounding business-speak, whether he's selling stolen scrap metal, attempting to seduce somebody or make threats of physical violence. This alone is so removed that it's blood-chilling, but it also makes the few moments when the mask slips even more evocative. Gyllenhaal is an absolute sensation, demonstrating that he can play both totally unhinged and smoothly subtle. There's great support from Riz Ahmed and Rene Russo as (respectively) Bloom's nervous assistant and the professional-minded fear-monger he sells his footage to, but Gyllenhaal blazes right past them and into the stratosphere as he lectures them about work ethic and alternates between treating them good-naturedly and with sheer contempt.
Tonally, Nightcrawler is nearly unparalleled. Countless wide shots of the Los Angeles cityscape create an infectious sense of isolation and smallness, heightening the electric tension that surrounds the increasingly ghoulish actions of Bloom. The murky, disaffected world of sensationalist news is dissected and lambasted sharply, but never to the degree where it becomes irritatingly preachy or self-righteous, focusing more on the specific nasty deeds of Bloom's and letting the satire seep in through the praise he receives, and the guidelines he's set for them. The dialogue is well-crafted, managing to fully convey menace in innocuous (if odd) positivity. Given the film's overall darkness and subject matter, there's an odd restraint in the level of violence and gore actually shown; maybe it's to avoid any potential hypocrisy given its condemnation of local news reveling in violent crime, but it does perhaps prevent a viewer from fully appreciating the inhumanity of these characters' detachment, which is one of the film's greatest sources of shock and drama.
I don't like the phrase "essential viewing", but Nightcrawler is so utterly fantastic that it's tempting me. Gyllenhaal is indescribably good (thereby making my work hard), reaping great rewards from an inventively twisted character that has to be seen to be believed. An incredibly smart film with a wonderfully dark heart and an expert knowledge of how to both build tension and how to pay it off, this is definitely going to be one of 2014's major highlights, and a big winner at awards season, if there's any justice. Which, according to this movie, there isn't.
Tonally, Nightcrawler is nearly unparalleled. Countless wide shots of the Los Angeles cityscape create an infectious sense of isolation and smallness, heightening the electric tension that surrounds the increasingly ghoulish actions of Bloom. The murky, disaffected world of sensationalist news is dissected and lambasted sharply, but never to the degree where it becomes irritatingly preachy or self-righteous, focusing more on the specific nasty deeds of Bloom's and letting the satire seep in through the praise he receives, and the guidelines he's set for them. The dialogue is well-crafted, managing to fully convey menace in innocuous (if odd) positivity. Given the film's overall darkness and subject matter, there's an odd restraint in the level of violence and gore actually shown; maybe it's to avoid any potential hypocrisy given its condemnation of local news reveling in violent crime, but it does perhaps prevent a viewer from fully appreciating the inhumanity of these characters' detachment, which is one of the film's greatest sources of shock and drama.
I don't like the phrase "essential viewing", but Nightcrawler is so utterly fantastic that it's tempting me. Gyllenhaal is indescribably good (thereby making my work hard), reaping great rewards from an inventively twisted character that has to be seen to be believed. An incredibly smart film with a wonderfully dark heart and an expert knowledge of how to both build tension and how to pay it off, this is definitely going to be one of 2014's major highlights, and a big winner at awards season, if there's any justice. Which, according to this movie, there isn't.
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