Nightcrawler

"You filmed him die."
"It's my job. I like to say that if you see me you're having the worse day of your life."

Jake Gyllenhaal is gaunt, verging on skeletal, wide-eyed, spewing entrepreneurial rhetoric, and is yet wholly terrifying as Louis Bloom, a man desperate enough to do anything to be successful in the orange and yellow-hued streets of night-time Los Angeles. Nightcrawler is the directorial debut of screen-writer Dan Gilroy (The Fall, Real Steel and Two For the Money) that also stars Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton and Gilroy's real-life wife, Rene Russo who all become a part of Lou's small corner of the underworld of night-time news journalism.

The film opens on a series of establishing shots of Los Angeles at night, awash with colour, where life and noise is ever-present off-screen, and the thrumming score is barely audible. The film then settles on Bloom, a man desperate enough to steal and sell almost anything he can, yet has such a vocal and principled perspective of hard-work that is strangely hypnotic. A perpetually rejected and alone Bloom happens upon a car accident and is swept up with the audacity and energy of Bill Paxton's Joe Loder. Loder is a nightcrawler, a freelance videographer who exuberantly films the crash, intending to sell it to the highest-bidding news outlet and affirms Blooms curiousity with the simple motto "If it bleeds, it leads." Spurred by the potential of this business, Blooms purchases a camera, hires the desperate and homeless Rick (Riz Ahmed of Four Lions) and endeavours to capture the most graphic footage first, and sell it to news director Nina (Russo), with whom he soon finds a kindred spirit.

Louis Bloom neatly joins the ever-growing ranks of cinemas great, nightmarish protagonists such as Travis Bickle and Patrick Bateman with his disassociation from other people and apparent lack of scruples, morals and humanity. Gyllenhaal apparently shed 20 pounds to sell Bloom as a "hungry coyote", and perfectly melts into the wide-eyed unblinking stare of the character. His performance is absolute, the hand movements and gestures, the walk, even the tone that he delivers his rhetoric, Gyllenhaal delivers it all perfectly, and the darker moments of Bloom, when his rage, his hatred and even his manipulative spirit come to the surface, Gyllenhaal never shies away or takes a bite out of the scenery. Riz Ahmed as Rick is the conscience of Bloom, downtrodden, quiet, unsure and desperate, and played tragically well. And Russo as Nina, who maintains this fast-talking facade of authority, when she's often in over her head, is also great. There are several scenes where each of these supports are alone with Bloom, where the scope and reality of his manipulation, his determined rhetoric, and even the threat of what he is capable of, can create awkward comedy and spine-chilling horror. These scenes become long and uncomfortable, but in the best possible way, as the audience is trapped in a car or a booth with this dangerous nightcrawler, as he advances or threatens, unblinking, unflinching, uncompromising, undeterred.

Nightcrawler is filmed with the intent to sell the character of LA. The broad wash of colours, the grainy tone of the film, the neighbourhoods both rich and poor, and especially the encounters in emergency situations, where police, firemen, ambulance crews, onlookers and the news media all collide in moments of high tension and emotion. The use of close-ups and lighting is brilliant, changing perceptions and capturing minute details.. The score meanders from dark drones and percussion, to almost Disney levels of light, inquisitive orchestration, even in moments of heightened violence or danger, perhaps to reflect the mindset of Bloom in these moments, but nonetheless being distracting. But as fascinating as these methods of film-making are, they are dominated by the performances.

Overall, Nightcrawler is a dark, character-driven commentary on the mindset of news media and the entrepreneurial spirit. It is a film laden with rich, detailed and measured performances within a plot that does not twist and turn, but slowly drags the audience into places they'll wish they'd never ventured. The score at times disassociates and detracts from the content on-screen, but is otherwise brooding and dangerous. A brilliant film that lives up to the hype surrounding it and is worthy of the praise, and a watch.