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The world is full of sociopaths; some go unnoticed, other repress their tendencies and a handful fulfil their urges. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, one of these sociopaths and has his mind set on fulfilling his hearts desires. Nightcrawler is the directorial début of Dan Gilroy brother of Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Dan Gilroy also wrote the screnplay while his brother co-produced. The cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo (Dan Gilroy's wife), Riz Ahmed and Bill Paxton.
The film follows Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) an unemployed petty thief who discovers the darker side of TV News; Lou Bloom decides to join the business by filming crash and crime footage and does whatever it takes not matter how unethical it may be. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a powerhouse performance and goes to great lengths just like his character. Apparently Gyllenhaal also learnt the entire script off by heart in order to deal with the responsibility of co-producing the film as well.
Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed (who is British believe it or not) also give strong performances.
What really makes the film is Gilroy's fantastic script which is full of brains, thrills, black comedy and underlying terror. Gilroy's script crafts a fascinating character and story rich in ideas and compelling drama while also managing to get under your skin to the point of creeping you the hell out. It's also a great look at tabloid journalism (the TV version of it) and how it really is there to either fill us the viewer with fear or feed our repressed sociopathic tendencies. The film touches at satire but never goes all the way with it which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity but doesn't weaken the film at all.
Gilroy directs well for his first feature and keeps the film escalating until the end but I feel that his lack of experience stops the film from fully reaching its potential. There's a disconnect between the film and the audience that stopped me from being fully immersed in the film and it's not just because of the sociopathic character at its core. I believe that if the film was more stylised it could have gotten around that and drawn the audience in even more.
The film still is very strong but I felt it could pushed things further and a more seasoned director would have had the courage to do that. Robert Elswit's fantastic cinematography helps a little but the score counters that by feeling rather out of place though I feel that may have been the point. But in the end this is really just nitpicking in an otherwise great film that is bound to start conversations and create the need to shower after spending two hours with such a shady character.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars.
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