In "Nightcrawler", Jake Gyllenhall plays Luis Bloom, pursuing success at any cost, a career actor who falls in the middle of so-called "stringers" - freelance journalists who walk the streets of Los Angeles at night in search of the next incident to shoot. Sometimes their cameras are getting faster even by the police, and the report is broadcast the next morning. Fires, catastrophes, robberies, murders, no room for ethical dilemmas. "If it bleeds, it leads". In the first scene, Luis stole iron for secondary raw materials. The lights of a security car approach to him and we see his face for the first time. Exhausted, protruding cheekbones and dark circles under the eyes. It reads fright, but also determination. Once he realizes that he is not a policeman, but a private guardsman from a private company, Luis laughs at him and knocks him down, and the next picture shows the security guard's watch on Bloom's hand. He is a man ready to achieve his goals, but he does not attack directly, but cautiously approaches his victim until he is sure of her weakness. As a coyote.
This is exactly the animal on which Gyllenhaal builds his image. Ever hungry and frightened, the coyotes are walking around LA following the bloody trail. That's what Lou does. After accidentally witnessing a road accident, he first sees the night paparazzi who shoot the victim of a crash, pushing between the police and the doctors. Lou sees in this field the necessary freedom for his unbridled ambitions. He buys a camera and a receiver to listen to the police frequencies and even hires another person to help him navigate while the car is flying to the next case. The plant starts to run at full speed. First of all, "Nightcrawler" is a movie about success and pursuit at any price. At a time when the labor force is getting cheaper and more and the competition on the labor market is becoming more and more cruel, there are such unscrupulous individuals in the cracks of the system that seem to have lost the human in themselves. There is something desperate about the lack of any remorse or sympathy in Lou's eyes as he pulls the next carcass outdoors to make it better. By the very end, it is not certain whether Luis Bloom is a psychopath or just a victim of the circumstances. The fact is that the script successfully provokes sympathy in the viewer, which then balances through the shocking moral decisions the hero does. But Lou is far from being the only morally blown person in the movie. Nina (Rene Rousso) is the director of the news in a not-so-popular cable. In her work there is also no less fierce competition. The rating system does not forgive anyone, and Nina is about to lose her job when Lou's door is on the door. With a wide smile and fast-paced aphorisms, he quickly captures their team, and the frames he shot are far superior to those of his colleagues. There are traces of blood on his shirt sleeves, but Nina is ready to close her eyes. She wants reports of crimes from rich neighborhoods and is willing to pay the price. "Think of our news as a screaming woman running across the street with a broken throat."
The episodes in the TV studio invariably give rise to associations with classics such as "Network", which reveals the cynicism and the ruthlessness of the people behind the director's board. One of the most powerful scenes in which this relationship is shown is when Nina broadcasts Lou's shocking video recording as he dictates coolly in the headsets of what they are talking about. Although there is no erotic scene in the film, sexual attraction among predators is present. Nina slowly begins to discover her inner Louis Bloom. There is something hypnotic about how the scenes in which Lou works. The viewer witnesses the birth of an artist, a young operator who only suits the perfect shot. The excitement that Gyllenhall shows on the screen is contagious. It is so nice to watch the work of an actor who does not accept his position for granted but diligently works to improve himself. Such dignified attitude is felt by the recent roles of Gyllenhaal. Here, however, the level is far above everything else he has done so far. In his roles, craftsmanship is noticeable in small details. Like the hidden tattoos and the blink of Detective Locke in Prisoners, or the slightly hunched posture of the teacher at the Vragh. For this role, Gyllenhaal takes on bigger challenges. It sinks by nearly 15 kg, almost does not sleep and does not wash her hair. The result is obvious.
The film is debut for director Dan Gilroy, writer of "The fallen", "Living steel" and "Born's legacy". For the cinematic work, Paul Thomas Anderson's favorite - Robert Elswitt, and one of the producers of the film is Gyllenhaal himself, which has probably given the young actor an additional incentive to give it all. The atmosphere is further enhanced by James Newton Howard's soundtrack, which relies on a synthetic pop reminiscent of the 80's, which, in conjunction with LA's night streets and the way cars were shot, immediately instigates associations with " Drive: Life at Speed ". "Nightcrawler" is a satire, with black humor and cynicism, a neo-noir that warns the viewer about people who can not accept "No" for an answer. The movie reminds of classics such as Taxi Driver and American Psycher, with the difference that everything is happening below the surface. Lou's emotional outbursts are small, and Gilroy's screenplay creates an interesting distance, which of course does not prevent us from being horrified. This is certainly one of the best movies we will have the chance to see this year on the home screens, but all his success he owes to Gyllenhaal. The character who builds on the screen as if living his own life, crossing the boundaries of the cliché and raising the film to the level of "A must see". I recommend without any scruples.