Nightcrawler

So I saw Nightcrawler and let me tell you, no one does crazy eyes like Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie is the story of Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) a down on his luck hustler who decides to get into the news business by filming grisly accident and crime scenes and selling the tape to local news. Eventually he teams up with Rick (Riz Ahmed), another guy down on his luck, and makes living selling tape to a local news producer Nina (Rene Russo). But the real focus of the movie is Gyllenhaal’s Lou. Besides just having extremely crazy eyes (his gaze makes both the audience and the other characters in the movie very uncomfortable) Lou is extremely hyper-verbal. Everything he says sounds like comes from a management or self-esteem textbook, full of buzzwords and jargon, the way he interacts with the world is incredibly unique and engrossing.

Because Lou is such an unstoppable force in the world of the movie, it’s really interesting seeing how all the other characters react to him. Rick and Nina seem to take opposite paths, Nina trying to block Lou’s endless ambition while for the most part Rick goes along for the ride. The interplay between the characters and their chemistry (or lack thereof) is really great.

I think the big thing that threw me with this movie is that it really feels like a period movie, but is set in the present day. I just might not be watching enough local news, but in my head the golden age of the kind of videos that this movie is based around is in the 1990s, not today. So when things happen that are clearly modern (a cellphone with GPS, Lou saving video in 4k fidelity, etc.) it seemed a little jarring to me. The other thing is that a HUGE amount of the movie’s plot is in the trailer. I was really surprised that parts of the penultimate scenes were prominently featured. It meant that I spent the whole movie waiting for certain things to happen, instead of letting the movie unfold normally.

I also want to point out that Bill Paxton has a part in this movie, and it’s like the third time this year that he’s been really great in a small role (the other were in the Agents of Shield TV show and Edge of Tomorrow). More bit parts for Bill Paxton please!

Anyhow, Nightcrawler is a good movie around a great performance, and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Check it out!