Dan Gilroy's debut feature is a superb, dark, cynical piece of LA noir. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Robert Elswit, the film hits all the right notes as far as atmosphere, performances and politics go.
It is the story of Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a Taxi Driver-style anti-hero who will do anything to get ahead in the murky world of after-hours LA.
When we meet him he is a copper thief stealing fence wire and manhole covers and selling them to dodgy contractors. When he rubbernecks an accident scene one night, he is introduced to the world of the nightcrawlers - the freelance cameramen who arrive at crime and accident scenes looking for gory details to capture and sell to the morning news networks. Louis gets hold of a police scanner and a camcorder and begins to chase ambulances and police cars on the dark streets, looking for the most sensational clips that will reinforce the adage that "if it bleeds, it leads".
Gyllenhaal, gaunt-faced and hollow-eyed, plays Bloom as a man with no empathy for anyone except himself who quotes pop culture business books about the entrepreneurial spirit he believes he embodies.
When he sells footage to a morning news show produced by Nina Romina (Rene Russo), he meets a kindred spirit - self-interested and ratings-obsessed.
Gilroy keeps his script tight and characters lean - we know nothing of Bloom's life beyond what we see - and the story moves deftly forward towards the inevitable crossing of moral lines.
In an age when Twitter feeds, Facebook walls and online news sites are filled with videos showing car accident deaths, beheadings and brawls, the point the film makes about the ruthlessness of the media in the face of so many sources of information is a necessary and relevant one.
While it's not quite as satirically successful as Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet's Network, Nightcrawler manages on the whole to nimbly walk the thin line between the dark worlds of David Lynch and the gritty LA noir of Michael Mann. Gyllenhaal is fast becoming his generation's version of the darkly brooding 1970s Robert de Niro. Gilroy's first outing as director is a thrilling, twisted and thought-provoking commentary on the media in an age that worships mediocrity and shock value.
What others say
Suspenseful and entertaining in its clammy, overwrought way.
A.O. Scott, The New York Times
A 21st-century takedown of the media's pandering 'if it bleeds, it leads' ethos.
Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
Pulp with a purpose. A smart, engaged film powered by an altogether remarkable performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
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