Nightcrawler — ambition without a conscience
Jake Gyllenhaal makes ambition deeply creepy. A dark, gripping look at a man who turns other people’s worst nights into a business.
Jake Gyllenhaal makes ambition deeply creepy. A dark, gripping look at a man who turns other people’s worst nights into a business.
Spoiler-free review.
Jake Gyllenhaal makes Lou Bloom unsettling before he has done much at all. The attentive stare, the careful politeness, the way he sounds as if he has memorised advice about succeeding: something is wrong even when the words are perfectly reasonable.
In Nightcrawler, Lou starts filming crime scenes around Los Angeles and selling the footage to television news. Dan Gilroy makes the work feel both grubby and competitive. The city at night looks inviting from a distance, while the business taking place in it is anything but.
The dialogue is the best part for me. Lou talks about opportunity, improvement, and professional relationships with an enthusiasm that makes those phrases feel sinister. Gyllenhaal rarely softens the delivery to make him easier to like. Rene Russo is an excellent match for him, especially when a conversation becomes a negotiation over what someone is willing to accept.
It is dark and gripping, though the point about ambition and the market for suffering becomes clear fairly early. After a while, I wanted the film to complicate that argument more rather than keep demonstrating it. The central performance held my attention even when the idea started to repeat.
7/10. A very strong performance in a sharply observed thriller. Lou’s calm way of speaking is often creepier than the footage he is trying to sell.
Directed by Dan Gilroy · 2014 · English. Film details · Poster source. Artwork © its respective rights holders.
Jake Gyllenhaal makes ambition deeply creepy. A dark, gripping look at a man who turns other people’s worst nights into a business.
— Desly