NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) review: "A gift you give yourself..."

The City Shines Brightest At Night...

NIGHTCRAWLER is a film released in 2014 starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed, as well as written by Dan Gilroy, in his directorial début. The film follows Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis "Lou" Bloom, a young man struggling to find a job in Los Angeles, whom is inspired when he stumbles upon a film crew shooting footage for a local news channel and attempts to get into the business himself, blurring the lines between what is real and what is fabricated as he muscles his way into crime journalism with a local television news reporter known as Nina Romina, played by Rene Russo. 

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To begin, I can say that hands down, Nightcrawler is personally my favourite film of 2014.

It is led by an exceptional performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, acting Lou Bloom's sociopathic tendencies to a tee. You can sense his demanding presence from the look that he conveys to other characters, manipulating and blackmailing his way to success, dealing with those who he can't convince. You simply feel uneasy when he is on-screen, yet you can't keep your eyes off of him the whole time he is. 

This isn't to say that the surrounding cast isn't good as well, with solid performances from Rene Russo, Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmed. 

Rene Russo's character, Nina, of whom is a news reporter desperate for footage to save her news channel from declining ratings, seeming tough and reluctant on face value, but pressured, willing to do anything to get the footage that Lou brings on air. Whilst watching, you feel conflicted about her character, sympathetic with her on that she is being manipulated by Lou when he brings footage for the station, but dismissive of her about her disrespect to those who are being recorded. In one instance with her character, Lou brings in footage of a home invasion in which all of the family members are murdered, she is ruthless towards it, not caring about those therein but only about whether they can air it on the station. 

"Morning news - if it bleeds, it leads..."

Bill Paxton's character, Joe Loder is Lou's main competitor, inadvertently making Lou a competitor after he is rejected by Joe when he first finds him, leading to Lou doing it on his own. Paxton fits right into the cocky character archetype after being cast as it several times before (most notably in Aliens), the man who is the best at what he does - night crawling. Paxton offers a natural performance, good, but ultimately overshadowed by the other cast members.

Riz Ahmed's character, Rick is Lou's reluctant partner, recruited shortly after Lou goes off on his own, similar to Lou starting off, a young man struggling to find a job within Los Angeles, however nowhere near as driven as Lou. His character is willing to take anything to make any semblance of money and it shows, at least when he initially takes the job with Lou, before he uncovers the nature of what he is getting into. Rick ends up being the balance to Lou, for everything that Lou wants to do, Rick is there to counter the moral values that Lou has. In addition to his performance, you wouldn't believe that Riz Ahmed is actually British - pulling off a flawless American accent, unless you knew prior, that is.

Leading on from the performances, the look of Nightcrawler is astonishing, with a similar visual style to Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive, flooded with neon and car lights and dark city skylines. The city of Los Angeles is the canvas for this film to exist. You are soon sucked into the atmosphere of the film, living in this nocturnal world, the night is day for those who night crawl. It can most definitely be categorised as a neo-noir. The cinematography on display here is simply fantastic, which isn't surprising from a cinematographer like Robert Elswit, of which is most notable work being with Paul Thomas Anderson, working on the majority of his films such as Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. The film from a visual standpoint is unquestionably great.

"The Closer You Look, The Darker It Gets..."

The writing and directing that Dan Gilroy provides is also tremendous, the dialogue between characters always feeling sharp, with Lou himself notably having enough jargon and intellectual dialogue to heavily reinforce Lou's antisocial characteristic, complimenting his direction, all of the characters feel believable in what they are doing, especially Gyllenhaal, you can tell that he literally lived and breathed as Lou Bloom for the duration of the shoot.

Finally, the score created by James Newton Howard may seem unusual or ruin the immersion for some, as initially it feels unfitting, a very triumphant score, playing when Lou is going through some very questionable actions, a notable example being when Lou readjusts a body at a crime scene in order to obtain better footage. However, it clicks when you realise that the score is to reflect Lou's character, what he feels instead of an objective film score. You are hearing the score as he hears it in his psychopathic mind, which is something that some may not have caught onto the first viewing, and ultimately raises the quality of the film after its initial stumble.

Overall, Nightcrawler is nothing short of an amazing film which would have been a much lesser film without Gyllenhaal, as he overshadows the entire film, stealing the show. It is very well made for its budget, fulfilling in every aspect, all of it comes together to make a chilling and thought-provoking thriller. I would highly recommend Nightcrawler for those who are looking for a film that is darker than most. This film is a gift you give yourself.

"If you wanna win the lottery..."