Nightcrawler is TMZ’s business model on steroids. Dan Gilroy’s first feature film showcases the nihilistic sociopath’s dream scenario. Los Angeles nightlife’s creepy scale is set by go-getter Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), who will stop at nothing to get the American Dream he wants.
Bloom enters LA in search of a more permanent job; he currently sells stolen metal on the cheap. Fate drops Lou near a car accident, where he runs into Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), a cameraman traveling from newsworthy incident to newsworthy incident to sell to a network news channel. Lou is instantly smitten, and starts his own nightcrawling business which becomes quickly successful. Lou then hires an intern Rick (Riz Ahmed) for his growing business and becomes partners with Nina (Rene Russo) a station manager in desperate need of juicy footage.
Much like Network, Nightcrawler takes on the sorry state of network broadcasting, pushing angles over facts for ratings. Fear mongering is Nina’s primary push out of sheer desperation, playing kingpin to Lou’s drug dealer (he’ll go places she would not). Watching a broadcast behind the scenes as she pushes the anchors to play the fear angle reeks of reality and sleaziness; I’d seen countless pieces like this during live coverage. These tactics force Lou into greater and greater risks, blurring Lou’s morality purely into the gray by driving storytelling instead of waiting for it to happen. Nightcrawler treads similar territory when it comes to television satire, but it is nonetheless effective and relevant and perhaps more boundary-pushing than ever before.
Jake Gyllenhaal lost enough weight to make Lou look like a shell of a person. Lou’s personality reeks of a life devoid of friends and lived online (his education is mentioned to come from online learning). The phony pitches he delivers with gusto sound sincere, but each pitch grows hollow as they get reused. As the story progresses, these pitches devolve into threats, rehearsed and detailed, as if Lou practiced is his empty one bedroom apartment convinced this is the way to go. Lou’s work life keeps pushing boundaries further and further; each crime recorded or demand for more money becomes increasingly calculated, overstepping moral and sometimes legal bounds. Rick and Nina feel like helpless pawns that better go along for the ride or be dispensed at the opportune moment. Gyllenhaal simply cannot be praised enough here for succumbing to the depths of human existence with zero remorse. Lou’s (black) sheep exterior hides his wolf like drive to win everything. Gyllenhaal’s unhinged unlife-like performance teeters Nightcrawler on a knife, keeping the audience wondering how far Lou will go before something terrible happens.
In a movie with some stellar action set pieces and visceral images, Jake Gyllenhaal commands the screen by sheer persistence. Nightcrawler may not be a juggernaut in the movie world, but it demands to be heard and will not take no for an answer. I’ve always maintained that the world is a decent place, but Nightcrawler chilled me to the core, like a stiff breeze on a dark night.