In the opening sequence of Nighcrawler, there stands a fine looking Jake Gyllenhaal followed by his attack on a policeman. This intertwined irony of the premise sets stage for what we’re about to witness: society’s definition of normal and driven and how that turns into weirdly cynical and problematic.
Nightcrawler is the story of Lou Bloom, a young man who has recently developed feelings for the profession of a stringer. In his job, he is required to work for himself fetching crime stories via footages and selling it to KWLA News. This rather harmless looking and even noble looking job, is layered with such deeply horrifying gratifications, that your eyes won’t believe. Or would they? This cynicism is represented via Lou, whose personality is knit up with all combined dark temptations the human mind wishes to pursue. His character feels like a warning sign that shouts “Beware of this side of yours!”.
Of late, Jake Gyllenhaal has been present wherever I see. Since the past 4-5 years his prominence is cinema can be unanimously felt. But to my dismay, the last film of his I watched was Spiderman: Homecoming. And hence, Nightcrawler came like a breath of fresh air, to put it subtly. In actuality though, it blew me over with wonder, surprise and admiration for his work. I can’t even imagine how he brought Lou to life. His cynicism today is better understood, all thanks to Jake’s portrayal and director Dan Gilroy’s constant efforts at keeping the ensemble in sync with Lou’s actions.
As you approach the end, you can slowly observe how so many others played a part and fuelled Lou’s obsession for their own good. This shows that everyone is as bad and selfish as Lou but no one wants to sit in the driver’s seat.
More than what you do, it is important to know why you want to do it
Lou Bloom, Nighcrawler
The above stated line, is something one would dream of saying and truly believing it as they do. But look at who spoke it in the film. What a dark attempt at hinting that we have all capabilities of becoming him some day, and how we actually are him but just better at hiding it.
However much I keep highlighting Nightcrawler’s dark undertones, it also is a very therapeutic film. This is because it validates our recklessness by saying that we’re neither alone nor the worst case. With it, it also validates our unwillingness to get out of bed one morning and shows us how that is better that becoming Lou Bloom. It is all of that, yet a constant high-pitched hum in our ears that makes us hate ourselves. The flipside is too fictional to be applied to general behavior but as a viewer when one gratifies their needs through Lou, they come to know how very thin the line is that they’re standing on.
For a noir film, it is far more engaging than others as well as serves its purpose of hitting you in the gut. In this character-driven film, it is lovely and admirable when a film’s screenplay subtly touches upon many prevalent issues yet doesn’t digress from what it bases itself on.
The F Word 