By Anand Holla
Darkness hangs thick and heavy all through Nightcrawler. Shot almost entirely at night, the dark frames carry a sense of ominousness. Rightly so, the narrative hurtles through tragedies that make for great TV news, and in Louis Bloom, we get an intriguing new anti-hero with nasty morals.
Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a low-life, who steals anything from watches to construction site barricades to manhole covers and sells them off at a scrap yard. After chancing upon a crew recording video footage of a car crash, Bloom finds his life’s purpose – scavenge for tragedies and shoot videos for TV news stations to make a fast buck.
After trading a stolen bicycle for a camcorder, Bloom gets himself a police scanner and steps into the realm of nightcrawling – shooting car crashes, murders, fires, the works. His passion and drive to rise up the ladder of LA crime journalism is so fierce that he gladly lets his murky moral compass do all the talking.
In TV news-veteran Nina (played superbly by Rene Russo), Bloom finds a loyal patron of his videos. A compulsive purveyor of screaming sensationalism, Nina encourages Bloom to bring them more gore. After all, it’s a TV channel that believes, “If it bleeds, it leads.”
As Bloom’s business gains traction, he buys a fiery red Dodge Challenger, two cool cameras, hires a hapless guy named Rick (Riz Ahmed) as his sidekick, and goes as far as his ambition would take him – like in the thick of a home invasion, towards the end.
Throughout the film, we witness Bloom’s dark coming-of-age and progressive depravity. We are made to like him enough to be interested in knowing how further he would fall, and how.
In fact, it’s hard to not be taken in by the compelling character study of Bloom, who is less of a sociopath, more of a psychopath. A young maddeningly driven man, Bloom isn’t an outright twisted personality, but more like an embodiment of a deep, dark shade of grey.
Smartly written, the narrative carries enough heft to pack in some social commentary. Nina’s melodramatic news bulletin is a satire on current news trends, a black humour jab at how news is tailored to feed off on people’s vulnerabilities. And the motivational marketing spiel Bloom keeps giving Rick is a spin on the hollow talks that abound in corporate boardrooms.
Everything comes together for Nightcrawler and that’s just what its pulsating story needs. Robert Elswit, whose lenses have brought big films as varied as Boogie Nights and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol to life, serves up some delightful cinematography that ensures the moody LA noir feel stays with you.
James Newton Howard’s strangely uplifting score deserves special mention purely for the way it complements the screenplay. Director Dan Gilroy, also the writer, makes an accomplished debut by regulating the film’s pace and progression like a pro.
Ultimately, the film belongs to Gyllenhaal, who continues to surprise filmgoers with his range. Apart from losing more than 20 pounds for the role, Gyllenhaal seems to have internalised the character down to such psychological detail that you may likely end up wishing well for him, despite how his despicable behaviour puts many lives on the line.
A lot like Robert De Niro’s essaying of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Gyllenhaal’s portraying of Bloom could be a new significant reference point for an anti-hero, hereafter. Eyes perpetually popped out of its sockets and sunken-cheeked, Bloom looks famished. The slightest hint of breaking news is the only cure for his hunger. The climax, fittingly, captures what has become of him.
Nightcrawler buzzes with an intensity that would be hard to not fall for. A thriller on slow-boil, it is a film that will last with you for a lot longer than you would expect.
