At the opening of the arresting neo-noir Nightcrawler, Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom seems like a dangerous, but also naïve and humorously kooky, lost soul. Living at the bottom end of contemporary hypercapitalism, he subsists on scrap-metal collection and the occasional theft and mugging. But despite his circumstances, he smoothly imitates the hopeful patter and relentless ambition of those at the top, detailing the features of a bicycle he’s just stolen to a pawn shop owner with all the vigor and enthusiasm of an entrepreneur pitching VCs, and asking for an internship at the local scrap-yard as if it were the bottom rung at Google.
The often illogical connections between desperation and cheeriness, ambition and failure, struggle and reward are the central tension of Lou as a character, and of Nightcrawler as a film. While the commentary on our rich-get-richer society isn’t subtle, Gyllenhaal’s Lou is so complex, alive, and deeply disturbing that it’s never simply satire either — until a final moment that feels like it belongs in a different, less interesting film.
The plot kicks off when Lou encounters Bill Paxton’s Joe, a late-night news cameraman. Lou, inspired, buys a camera and a police scanner, becoming the “nightcrawler” of the title — an exploitative ambulance chaser, eager to get to the scene of every bloody accident and crime first, but also an artist on the hunt for great shots.
What ensues is a more sophisticated version of the “learning to do something” montages that end the first acts of many children’s films. It turns out Lou is a born freelancer, and he racks up win after win as he builds a career underwritten by real talent. This section of the film is profoundly uplifting, especially for any artist or craftsperson who has learned the ropes of a creative process — though it also packs in plenty of jabs at the superficiality of blood-soaked nightly-news journalism.
But then Nightcrawler tugs on the hook it has baited. Lou’s growing ambition only enables his amorality, and he starts cutting corners and manipulating those around him. The street punk whose go-getter patter was faintly amusing becomes an increasingly powerful bully, and in the final sections of the film, the Lou we’ve come to admire crosses every possible boundary for the sake of success.
Nightcrawler devolves briefly into a conventional (but effective) action-thriller, and its ending fails the complexity that preceded it. But it’s still a truly extraordinary film, subtly scripted with powerful themes, and brought to life through Lynchian cinematography of a banal-but-threatening Los Angeles. Ultimately, the spotlight belongs to Jake Gyllenhaal, who has created a dark antihero as seductive and dangerous as the times we live in.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Written and directed by Dan Gilroy. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Paxton, Rene Russo. Opens Fri., Oct. 31.