Dan Gilroy shows us a dark, behind the scenes look at gathering news footage in his directorial debut, Nightcrawler.
Louis "Lou" Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal, Source Code) is a man looking for his calling in life. Meanwhile, he's selling stolen items to a scrapyard. One night he runs across an accident and stops to check it out. He doesn't pay attention to the victim, rather the man (Bill Paxton, Edge of Tomorrow) getting footage of everything. He talks to this man, Joe Loder, who tells him about the business of news footage gathering to sell to the highest bidding station. The next day Bloom buys a camera and a police scanner and gets to work. He sells his first footage to the morning show of a low-rated news station. The news director, Nina (Renee Russo, Major League), love his work and they end up forming a sort of partnership. Things escalate as Bloom goes to amoral and downright unlawful lengths to get the first and best scoop at tragic scenes in LA. Nina is a news director in a flailing station who needs the ratings, so even knowing he can't be getting the footage legally, she turns a blind eye to his methods and uses it anyway.
Dan Gilroy both wrote and directed this film. He does have some writing credit to his name, but this is his first directing gig, and boy what a debut it was. It is a great, gritty look at news stations, paparazzi, and society in general. You will watch this film being appalled at the lengths he goes to in getting footage for this small news station. You'll hate the guy, but also realize that the kind of footage that he is getting in this fictional world is the kind of news footage we flock to in real life as a society. We are fascinated by death and destruction. With the things he does, you know this is exaggeration, but it makes you reflect on the fact that this is exactly the kind of footage we want to see. Nina is coming into sweeps period at the station part way through the film and needs good footage and stories. This resonated with me, because I work in a news station. (Sadly, I don't get paid for writing reviews, so I've gotta pay the bills somehow). The station I work at is in the Midwest, but not in Chicago, so crime is pretty low, but I can see the work that gets put into finding good stories for sweeps periods.
I'll give Gilroy a nod for writing the film, but it is Gyllenhaal that brings the script to life. I'm going to join the bandwagon and say that he definitely deserves an Oscar nod for this role. He took this character and made it his own, even down to little nuances such as his habit of putting his hair in a little ponytail right before he's going to do something bad. Louis Bloom is a complete sociopath. He is meticulous and manipulative and is always one step ahead of everyone. He's great at reading people and knows how to exploit their needs to get what he wants. His actions will appall you, and you know you can't root for him. Somehow you respect him though for his drive and his ambition to be the best at what he does. With Bloom's actions being so appalling, Gilroy was smart in writing in an "intern", Rick (Riz Ahmed, Closed Circuit). Rick is with Bloom through all of his filming escapades. He provides a little comic relief to ease the tension without being over the top. He also provides our scapegoat for a reason to root for Bloom to get away with things, because you don't want to see Rick get caught in the crossfire. The character of Nina is the perfect companion to Bloom because she is kind of his doorway into the real world so to speak. Being a sociopath, Bloom has a bit of a disconnect with other people. Nina has that same drive and ambition as him, so she can relate, but she has a better connection with people and helps him to meet everyone at the station. Bill Paxton plays a bit role as Bloom's introduction into this world and later competition. It is always good to see him pop up.
With a great script and a phenomenal performance by Gyllenhaal, this is a must see film this fall. It is also another solid directorial debut for the year. This film is dark and tense and it will get under your skin.
Rating: *********- (9 out of 10) [Full price!]
Memorable Quote:
Rick: I could've gotten more, couldn't I?
Lou: Absolutely.
No comments:
Post a Comment