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| Photo credit: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/mobile/m/nightcrawler/ |
Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler (2014) is at its heart a study of a peculiar contemporary character who turns off viewers by his perceived lack of empathy and humanity. If you've heard others say "it sucks" or if you believe so yourself, consider the nature of the film and its intent. All throughout, the viewer has a one-faceted view of Louis Bloom: his business side. We may see glimpses of him in his home, but every action that is documented has to do with his pursuit of a job, career goals, or thought processes behind his steps of development as an employee and owner of Video Production News. Otherwise, information about the character is ambiguous or not presented. He has no family, friends, other hobbies we know of. I left the theater wondering why such a man would be driven to do that kind of work, and what predisposed him to lack such humanity that his boss and partner noticed. It is evident that the film purposely left details such as these vague. One could interpret the film as a commentary on our society's dilemma wherein we have narrowed a person's identity to their career, their character to their work ethic. Other themes such as voyeurism, personal boundaries, anti-social behavior, tainted reality through a camera eye, greed, ethics, and the internal corruption of news media are explored, however the heavy focus on the worker aspect of Bloom's character - in fact being the only thing displayed - supports my identity hypothesis.
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| Photo credit: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/tiff-review-dan-gilroys-nightcrawler-starring-jake-gyllenhaal-rene-russo-20140906 |
The movie chronicles an intimate, up-close progression of a character who does not understand personal boundaries of other people. Louis Bloom, performed quite well by Jake Gyllenhaal, is a socially inept, intelligent, persistent man who is a natural at fawning naïvete. From a thief to a neophyte crime "photographer" to an expanding news gathering company, Lou talks to every person he encounters as if they are a co-worker or business partner. His interactions grow more cold and awkward as his greed for recognition and "success" is more visible. (I think the movie also asks us to think about what we define success as, in careers and in our lives on a grander scale.) Other praiseworthy acting performances are Rene Russo as Bloom's unofficial gore-whore boss, and Riz Ahmed as his insecure but eager assistant.
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| "...On TV it looks so real..." Photo credit: http://www.craveonline.com/film/reviews/755577-tiff-2014-review-nightcrawler |
I especially found the score and cinematography interesting, different from the usual crime/drama thriller. Cinematography was directed by Robert Elswit. Shots were characterized by wide angle lenses, standstill views, beautiful landscapes at twilight and dawn, and almost centered portrait and full-body shots; all in all, almost artistic. Art direction was given by Naaman Marshall, and original music was I by James Newton Howard. The score on one hand was sunny and optimistic, pleasantly juxtaposing the setting of the story at night, and contrasting the gritty subject of L.A. crime. At other times it was minimal and conducive to building suspense. The film built suspense wonderfully, with lingering shots of characters with gears turning in their heads, and voyeuristic, life-viewing through camera-viewing a camera-viewing life angles. The cop car chase at the climax was especially suspenseful, considering a good portion of the film itself wasn't necessarily suspenseful in comparison.
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| Photo credit: http://youtu.be/nC95NXEQruQ |
In conclusion, the ambiguity and open-ended nature of the plot allowed Nightcrawler to be structured by a character rather than the story, and definitely does not detract from its quality as a piece of cinema or entertainment.
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