“If it bleeds,
it leads.”
Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal, “Source Code”) is desperate for a job. He scours and scrapes for
anything. One night he runs into a freelance videographer
(Bill Paxton, “Edge of Tomorrow”) filming a crash
rescue, a footage that can be sold as headline exclusive to the
highest bidding news station. This speaks to him on a primal level.
Riding a beat-up car and equipped with an amateur police scanner
and cheap camcorder, Lou is in business. A
quick study, fast on his feet with a keen eye for detail, he trolls
the night for a crime scene worth shooting. He's able to sell his
first graphic shot to a night-shift news director (Rene Russo) in
need of booster for ratings. Their relationship morbidly blooms from
there. Lou takes advantage of a homeless man (Riz Ahmed) to be his
assistant; he's proven to be useful since he knows the ins and outs of
Los Angeles streets. He thrives and soon is able to buy a fancy car
and fancier equipments to run his business more professionally.
Lines are crossed, as Lou realizes that
power and dollars come with getting the right shots at all costs.
It's not just creeping or crawling into any crash, fire, murder,
stabbing or carjacking. There's such thing as the “right”
neighborhood, the “right” victim or the “right”
circumstance. So what's the harm in manipulating frames at crime
scenes when the police aren't looking? It gets the message across,
scores and praises. But at what point a line is crossed to the point
of no return? Setting up and staging scenes and gambling with
people's lives?
Gaunt, bug-eyed and detached with a
penchant for long, preaching monologue, Gyllenhaal plays the part like a pro, showing Lou's narcissistic hunger and smarm, opportunistic
instinct with no qualm for morals, driven to be somebody who holds
all the bargaining chips.
Natural light and neon-lit scenes are
perfectly photographed in “Nightcrawler.” The nighttime shots
remind me of the visually aesthetic “Drive." It's a notable debut from a first-time director, Dan Gilroy.
Notwithstanding the unsatisfying
ending, “Nightcrawler” is a great macabre satire about how news
are made, packaged and pushed to the limit behind the scene,
sensationalized and consumed by the public, and those who profit from
tragedies and atrocities. A dark comedy and thriller rolled
into one.
“Nightcrawler” may not be the
typical ghoulish movie for a Halloween weekend. And while it's easy
to say that Lou is one of the lowest kinds, there's something to be
said about the public's appetite for ghastly sensationalism. As long
as people are watching and ratings are soaring, the media would continue to publish. And that, is where the horror lies.