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Nightcrawler

“Stringer” is a term given to men/women that gather video or pictures independently for local news stations. These “stringers” are the same men/women waiting for the right call toNightcrawler.

come over their police scanners to capture exclusive footage before even the first responders arrive. This year director Dan Gilroy takes us on trip inside the life of a “stringer” in Los Angeles in his new film,

Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal Prisoners) is struggling to make some money. Resorted to theft and metal scrapping, Bloom still seems to come up short. That is until the day he accidentally falls into his next career. Bloom comes across a fatal car crash while driving home and stops to get a good look. That’s when Bloom bumps into Joe Loder (Bill Paxton Edge of Tomorrow); a “Stringer” capturing the crash on video for whichever news station will pay the most for his video. Figuring that this is a good way to make some quick money, Bloom invests in a camcorder and decides to film some video of his own. Bloom’s confidence in his ability strengthens after a few videos that he sells for some good money. The problem with that is Bloom’s sense of ethics seems to blur with each new story.

I would just like to apologize for the last two paragraphs because for as little as I wrote, I am going to try and talk up this movie. This is a very straight forward movie, but an amazing one. The film is very thrilling and suspenseful, yet a great character film as well.

Jake Gyllenhall does a masterful job as Bloom. Gyllenhall’s Bloom is very ambitious when it comes to his career goals and when his goals become larger, so does his drive. However, as much as Bloom is ambitious, Gyllenhall is able to layer in some sociopathic tendencies. Gyllenhall teeters the line of crazy very well with simple tones of his voice and body movement. The rest of the cast is superb as well, however this film really does center on Gyllenhall as if the other characters are merely blips on Bloom’s path to “success”.

First time director Dan Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy is no stranger to Hollywood. Gilroy has been writing screenplays since 1992, but NIghtcrawler is his first time in the director’s chair and Gilroy started off with a bang. Gilroy uses a lot of classic film techniques with most of this film. He does a great job using the angles to center Gyllenhall in each scene to make sure the audience only “follows” him. Gilroy also uses the music very well to keep the audience engaged in the film, even by giving Gyllenhall’s character his own theme to let the audience know of what is about to happen, very much like Scorsese did for De Nero in Taxi Driver. Gilroy is able to make this very mundane concept on paper very exciting to watch on film.

 

Like I said earlier, this is a very simple movie, with some exciting moments and yet Dan Gilroy is able to keep the audience glued to the screen with every passing minute. Gyllenhall turns out another Golden Globe nominated performance with (my) hopes of a win and an Oscar nomination. Felt that Dan Gilroy was very much snubbed by the Globes this year, but hopefully Oscar won’t be so mean.

The Verdict: Very Much Worth Your Time