Nightcrawler (2014) Review

Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a Los Angeles citizen, gets through life by scavenging and petty crime. After another failed attempt at getting a job, he spots a cameraman (Bill Paxton) filming the carnage of an early morning car crash. Hours later, on the morning news, he saw the footage he witnessed being captured. This driven young man has now found his calling. He becomes the hero of his own story as he forces his way into the cut-throat, vicious world of nightcrawling, where any police siren wail is equivalent to a potential lottery win and victims are turned into dollars and cents.

Screenwriter Dan Gilroy, who not only penned the script but also made his directorial debut with the film, is the genius behind this cult classic. Having complete creative freedom brought out Gilroy's best. The screenplay is not only one of the best film scripts in the last 30 years, a character-driven thriller centred on psychological manipulations over predictable classic plot twists, but there is also incredible visual impact, courtesy of Academy Award winner, director of photography, Robert Elswit. The drama that unfolds in the streets of LA is vibrantly captured in the same essences of Michael Mann’s Collateral (2004) and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive (2011).

Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy co-writer) has a knack for directing action scenes. Nightcrawler is filled with scenes of Louis and his driver/navigator Rick (Riz Ahmed) speeding down the highways at a breakneck speed to get to the accident site before their nightcrawling rivals. The audience is with them on the chase to get the story first. They are willing Lou and Rick to reach the site first. The audience is so wrapped up in the pursuit of the story that they, just like Louis, lose perspective on what they are doing. Louis has zero thought for the victims he is racing to film first. To Louis, capturing the mangled body of the casualty on film is a win for him. It is the equivalent to scoring a winning goal in the FA cup final for Louis. His moral shortcomings do not bother Nina (René Russo), his buyer and needy producer, so desperate to improve her local TV news show ratings, she is willing to buy his content without any need for Louis to explain to himself where he got the footage.

Gilroy plays a comedic competition between the seasoned nightcrawler, Joe Loder (Paxton) and Louis until Gilory pulls the comedic competition and switches to a nasty rivalry. The humour is unpleasant. Bloom is accustomed to making jaw-dropping remarks that seem dry or tongue in cheek, but behind the supposed dry humour is a dark undercurrent.

Nightcrawler is at its core "what is this guy going to do next?". The plot is rather simple: Louis discovers the world of freelancers who are going to hunt for moments of human suffering, often after violent incidents and accidents, but only incidents and accidents that would be interesting enough for the local news stations' 6 am morning shows. He quickly shows talent in his new work, crosses boundaries and puts his camera in front of the faces of the sufferers, becoming the last thing some of them ever see. He will never miss an opportunity to miss a great shot of the event, even after being shooed away just like an insect on the street, he will merely just find another angle to get the shot. Throughout the film, it is a simple matter of how much Bloom is prepared to manipulate tragic situations for him to gain an advantage in his career. The answer, "as much as he possibly can," but the script by Gilroy keeps increasing the stakes, with a plane crash here, a home invasion there. The film runs through a treasure trove of pulp, ones that prevent it from becoming too formulaic and repetitive.

Bill Paxon appears in the film as the rival to Bloom, Joe Loder. Paxon delivers a stellar performance in a small screen role, just exactly what you would expect from such a brilliant silver screen veteran. Rene Russo cemented her Hollywood comeback, with the help of her role in Marvel's Thor. With this subtle yet great performance, Russo portrays the television news station producer who finds herself in need of Bloom's lack of moral judgement to help boost her ratings. Louis’s driver/navigator Rick is brilliantly played by Riz Ahmed of Four Lions (2010) fame. He is a real stand out in the film just two years before his major breakout role in 2016’s The Night Of, a role he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Rick is a man sofa surfing in desperate need of money who is willing to do anything for a job, but Rick is still not as driven as Louis, which is where the two clash.

At the heart of Nightcrawler is Jake Gyllenhaal’s magnificent performance of Louis Bloom. We’ve seen Gyllenhaal in a state of discomfort: from the troubled teenager Donnie Darko (2001) to the fidelity killer hunter in 2007’s Zodiac, to his uptight tenacious detective in Prisoners (2013). But here he transforms as well as transcends. Gyllenhaal transformed himself into Louis Bloom, creating the pale, gangly, bug-eyed and scrawny Nightcrawler. Speaking in a nasal, elevated style of speaking, spinning whatever comes out of his mouth in a way that is almost comedic if it was not for the edge that he gives it. As the charming but slimy Bloom, he gives a pure, intense and primal performance and not only did the performance immediately draw similarities to a young Robert De Niro's work, but it showed once again that Jake Gyllenhaal is much, much more than a pretty face and one of the most underrated actors working today. He has sadly been on the receiving end of multiple Oscar snubs for his performances in Zodiac (2007), End Of Watch (2012) and Southpaw (2015), but the snub for this particular performance hurts the most. Gyllenhaal's portrayal of Louis Bloom is one of the best performances you will ever see in our lifetime and it is a crime that more people have not seen this wonderful performance. Gyllenhaal’s commitment to the role puts 99% of actors in Hollywood to shame. The actor had the idea that Louis was somewhat of a hungry coyote, so he lost 30 pounds for the role. Before his next role as a World Champion boxer in Southpaw (2015), he returned to his normal weight and added 15 pounds of pure muscle. He also did something unheard of in Hollywood. He memorized the entire script of the film as though he was preparing for a stage play. He did this due to logistical issues. The production found itself some nights where they would lose a location for the night but be able to film a completely different scene in another part of the city which they needed to complete in no more than 2 takes. He can still to this day recite 90% of the script. He is determined to convince Gilroy to turn it into a play as he loves the script so much. To my knowledge, actors learning the whole script has only happened a handful of times in Hollywood films. Something on a similar level happened with All the President's Men (1976) when Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman learnt each other's lines so they could better interact with one another, to the annoyance of the other actors. Gyallenhaal’s commitment reached a whole new level when, during a scene where Bloom is screaming at himself in front of a mirror, Gyallenhaal got so into the scene that he improved, smashing the mirror resulting in cutting his hand. When Gilroy noticed the cut, he drove the actor to the hospital. The actor got 46 stitches, after a 19-hour day on set, during a four-hour-long operation. Gyallenhaal was back on set after being discharged six hours before. This is the reason why Bloom has his hand behind his back during a scene. Gyllenhaal’s portrayal of Louis Bloom is one of the best performances we will ever see in our lifetime and it is a crime that more people have not seen this astonishing performance.

Nightcrawler was nominated for a single Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Looking back now, it is even more of a travesty that it did not receive a nomination for best film and actor. The shining light in recent years is the recognition Gyallenhaal has been receiving for this performance. Filmgoers and Hollywood must start noticing films of this quality before they become the underseen cult classics of tomorrow.