Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton

Directed by Dan Gilroy

Synopsis:
Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a small-time thief suffering from some form of antisocial behavior.  He wants a job, but his offbeat and downright offputting personality prevents him from doing so, as he also longs to create his own company. 

One night he comes upon a crash, and realizes he wants to be a stringer, or a freelance videographer who contributes to local news outlets by selling his videos to them.  He finds an eager buyer in Nina Romina (Rene Russo), a morning news director who's working on the lowest watched news program in Los Angeles. 

Louis' shots are incredible, as he often even interferes in the crime scenes and is often the first one there, even before the cops.  As he keeps bringing in the shots, he gets more money, and demands more from Nina, even extorting and threatening her to go to her competitor if he didn't get what he demanded.

One night he comes upon a murder scene before the police, which leads to some of his best shoots to date, but also throws him into the story, as he delves dangerously close to the edge, in order to get that perfect final shot.

Review:
"Nightcrawler" is an excellent character study, not just on the main character himself, but society as a whole.  This is Jake Gyllenhaal's best performance to date, showing Louis as a man suffering from severe mental issues as well as terrible people skills.  His character is so detestable and uncouth that it's hard to care for him, and even dislike and hate him, and that is the showcase of an amazing performance, that you really loathe someone who doesn't exist that badly.

In a broader sense, "Nightcrawler" brings to light our odd desire to see the worst in people.  Louis films the most grotesque, horrific scenes, and the news program eats it up, offering him as much as $15,000 for a shot.  Nina, as a struggling news director, immediately puts all Louis' shots on the air, to the dismay of others who see it as an ethical conundrum.  However, as the horrific videos are put to air, the ratings rise, and Nina goes from someone almost getting fired to someone in supreme authority, and that shows the depravity of the viewing public - much like how everyone talks about not wanting to see a train wreck, but never being able to look away.  We don't WANT to see horrible things happening, but we CAN'T look away when it does. 

It's in the same way we want to do good and see good things happen, yet we worship bad behavior that we see on television all the time, especially when it comes to reality shows and news programs that keep taking things to the next level - the more bad behavior, the more eyes see it.  People don't want to see good things happen, because it's boring.  They want the drama, they want the negativity, they want the depravity.  Why is that?  What drives us to want to see bad behavior and idolize it? 

Good questions for thought.

Summary:
"Nightcrawler" serves as an unflinching light to our souls, asking us why we want bad things to happen, and to understand the reasoning behind bad behavior.

My Rating: A