Nightcrawler Is Bloody Good

Rating:

“Imagine a woman running down the street with her throat cut,” says Nina (Rene Russo) to Lou (Jake Gyllenhaal) referring to what makes the cut for television. If Nightcrawler is about television’s fascination with crime, it is as much about Lou, someone willing to do anything to get to the top. When a jobless Lou happens to see a couple of stringers covering a car crash on the streets of LA at night, he fancies that he can do well in this business. Thereupon begins his relentless and furious pursuit of becoming a well-known name in television.

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a virtuoso performance as Lou Bloom, who is hell-bent on making it big. Rene Russo as Nina Romina, the luscious morning news director at a local TV station, who is willing to titillate her viewers by showing graphic and shocking footage of the crime scenes, is excellent. Casting Riz Ahmed as Rick, Loo’s protégé, pays off in the end. Rick provides the much-needed lighter moments in this otherwise extremely dark movie. On the streets of LA, as Lou and Rick look for yet another crime scene to shoot, we see Lou turning into a savage hunter seeking his next big footage of gory news.

Nightcrawler takes its viewers right to the heart of every crime that Lou covers. The movie works simply because it doesn’t shy away from showing the bloody parts. Also, director Dan Gilroy portrays the relationship between Lou and Nina ever so deftly. Surely, everyone in the audience will have different moments from the movie that they will take home. As for me, it is the chemistry between Lou and Nina that did it. Every time they share the same screen, it is sheer magic. Further making Nightcrawler a memorable cinema viewing experience is the pulse-pounding music by James Newton Howard and Robert Elswit’s hard-hitting cinematography.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Oscar-worthy performance and Rene Russo’s classic portrayal of Nina are possibly just two of the many reasons I’d probably watch Nightcrawler a second time. This Dan Gilroy’s masterstroke not only brings to screen the vicious crime scene of LA, but also the dark recesses of human nature. Most certainly deserving a second viewing, this is cinema at its finest.