Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut, Nightcrawler tells the story of Lou Bloom, a man looking for work in L.A. who finds it in the form of nightcrawling, recording footage of crimes, car accidents, deaths, etc. and then selling said footage to tv news channels. Driven by his ambition and his need for recognition, Lou quickly begins to blur the ethical line in order to get increasingly better footage.
But along with this main story, Nightcrawler tells another story: that of missed potential. The film spends much of its time making its audience wonder what Lou will do next, but rarely showing them. It is not until the third act that the film begins to transition from a good film into a great one and by the time that almost happens, the film ends. I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps the film began too early. The climax of the film, while great, felt less like a climax and more like the turning point for Lou. I had expected to watch as Lou committed increasingly heinous acts, but instead I left the theater feeling as though I had missed something, or maybe that Gilroy was holding something back.
Then there’s the intrusive score by James Newton Howard, which completely brought me out of the experience every time I heard it. The soundtrack almost seems as though it would have been more appropriate in an 80’s coming-of-age movie. And it’s this 80’s coming-of-age music that plays when Lou is talking about his job that, more often than not, involves filming people who are dead or dying. I would often find myself unable to focus on the dialogue, having been distracted by the awkwardness of the soundtrack.
This is not to say that Nightcrawler is a bad film. In fact, it is a very good film. Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance is by far the largest contributing factor in the quality of the film. His performance is perhaps the best of his career and is certainly one of the best performances of the year. You need only look at Lou’s eyes to see this. Gyllenhaal’s eyes appear almost dead and he hardly ever blinks. On top of this Gyllenhaal lost twenty pounds for the role, making Lou appear almost skeletal and constantly hungry. This hunger manifests itself in the way that Lou goes after his new found career so ferociously, constantly hungry for more and more footage, for more and more success, and for more and more recognition.
Gilroy also does quite a good job of lampooning the sensationalism in modern news. Nina Romina, the news director played by Rene Russo, constantly pushes Lou for bloodier, more violent content in order to get views. She consistently ignores her assistant who tries to steer her away from Lou and his footage in favor of being more ethical, even to the point where she withholds information from the public so that she can again draw in more viewers. There are times where you almost expect her assistant to shout, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”, as there has not been a movie that so adeptly criticizes the current state of broadcast journalism since Network.
But good writing and a great performance are not always enough to make a great movie, as is the case with Nightcrawler. With the help of Gyllenhaal, Dan Gilroy has made a very impressive directorial debut, he has just missed much of the film’s potential.
- Acting: 10
Jake Gyllenhaal gives a career-best performance. It’s an absolute crime that he wasn’t even nominated for an Academy Award.
- Cinematography: 10
The cinematography is, by and large, gorgeous. There is a very stylish, almost 80’s vibe to the look of the movie that is reminiscent of Drive and Miami Vice.
- The Climax: 9
The climax is everything it should be, exciting, tense, and nail-biting. It was also one of the best car chases I have ever seen.
- Execution: 6
This is where an otherwise great movie falls (a little) flat, which is an easy mistake for a first-time director to make. Had this been Gilroy’s third or fourth film, he would have had the experience necessary to pull this one off and then some. As it stands though, I can’t help but be a little disappointed.
- Pacing: 6
Nothing really that exceptional here. The film chugs along at a good pace but there are some lulls. Fortunately, they are relatively few and far between.
- Premise: 8
I can’t think of a single movie that’s been about nightcrawling and I can’t imagine why, since it’s a really good one.
- Writing: 10
The script is nothing short of phenomenal. It reads like no script I’ve ever seen and is damn near impossible to put down. I highly recommend finding a copy of the script to read for yourself.
Overall Score: 8
The Film Viking 