Film Review: Nightcrawler

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Film

Nightcrawler

In Nightcrawler we’re introduced to Lou Bloom, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. A one time petty theft, he falls into a new career. That of a Nightcrawler – a cameraman who spends his nights looking for the most gruesome and grisly of murders, thefts and other crimes. It’s pretty easy to see that what Lou is so hell-bent on getting is his money shot.

Nightcrawler

The creepiest face I will ever see on Jake Gyllenhaal. I imagine.

Jake Gyllenhaal is creepy as fuck in this film. Lou Bloom is a creepy, single-minded man. It’s not a role I’ve seen Jake Gyllenhaal play before and he plays it very well. Lou is cold. Almost emulating what he thinks a human being should be doing or saying. Of course he believes everything he’s saying. And creepily, so do the rest of the players.

As the story unfolds, it’s clear that Lou is no longer just the passive recorder of incidents. He begins manipulating scenes to create that perfect shot. Something that slowly culminates in Lou creating his money shot. It’s not hard to join up the dots to the ending. But it doesn’t matter. There’s still a curve ball thrown at you towards the end.

Nightcrawler

Don’t get in the way of Lou’s career goals.

Nightcrawler is a fantastic thriller. Dan Gilroy paints such a wonderfully dark Los Angeles that Lou fits right in. Coupled with one of the best scores I’ve heard from James Newton Howard in a long time, Nightcrawler becomes a thriller that’s worthy of all the credit it’s received.

I’m going to leave you with Jetta’s I’d Love to Change the World, the fantastic song featured in Nightcrawler.

13 Comments

  1. This seems like a creepy and thrilling movie! I’m going to have to seek it out! And woah, yes, worst creepy face on Jake Gyllenhaal ever!

    • Definitely do, Emily – it’s a really great thriller. One of the best I’ve seen of late.

  2. For some reason, both Mark and I separately misread an article, leading us to believe this was based on a true story. So we were both completely shocked by the film! Until we figured out it was fiction.

    • You know both me and Anish wondered whether it was based on a true story by the end of the film. For some reason we thought it did. It just had that vibe.

  3. Great movie which ended up on my top 10 list last year…shame he didn’t get an Oscar for the role as I think it’s one of his best performances he’s ever given.

    • Yes, big shame. Looking forward to seeing him in Southpaw this year. And also last year’s Enemy. Definitely one of the bigger Hollywood talents these days.

    • And it was surprising who came out as one of the most fucked up characters – Rene Russo’s – as bat shit crazy as Lou,.

  4. Loved this movie. Jake was as crazy as we’ve ever seen him, and every scene he had with Rene Russo just crackled with tension. I really had no idea where the events were going to take us. Really got under my skin and stuck with me for a while, very unsettling.

    Which reminds me, I saw Locke the other night. That was great too and really stuck with me.

    • Locke is brilliant film – I really got into it. Another one of those films that you honestly don’t know where it’s going. A part of me thought we were going to get to see Locke’s destination – but we never did. Fab film.

  5. Nightcrawler is one of my favorites from last year, happy you liked it too! Is both entertaining and has food for thought about our current society and the relentless (and unnecessary) 24 hour news cycle. I too love that Jetta song from the trailer.

    • Society’s needless hunger for the absolute worst in humanity – it’s a dark thought, but the film tackles it really well.

  6. I love this one too. It also managed to be in my top 10 for last year, surprising because I rarely put thriller movies in my top 10

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