In Nightcrawler, a handful of desperate, slimy characters clamour for viewers who remain unseen.
Chief among them is Louis Bloom (a scarily gaunt and bug-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal), an amateur crime journalist climbing a dubious professional ladder in Los Angeles by videotaping crime scenes and selling the footage to a local news station run by Nina Romina (Rene Russo), a veteran producer less concerned with Bloom’s lack of ethics than dwindling ratings. No-one, however, beyond the parties involved, is actually seen watching the news.
The idea of the viewer being implicated in Bloom’s own voyeuristic tactics is not a particularly novel one, nor is the premise ripe for a cutting-edge attack on media sensationalism; both Network and Ace In The Hole (for instance) have beaten it to the punch by 38 and 63 years, respectively. Part of this is due to the anachronistic, neo-noir pastiche quality of the LA it depicts (rendered in hues of neon by cinematographer Robert Elswit, best known for his work on Paul Thomas Anderson’s films), which effectively establishes Bloom as living in a movie of his own making, but also neuters a lot of the screenplay’s potential satirical edge and specificity.
Still, it’s that very movie-ness that keeps Nightcrawler from being a preachy Way-We-Live-Now sermon, and the film is good cynical entertainment for the most part, with at least one knockout action set piece and several hilarious, hair-raising long dialogue scenes that highlight the extent of Bloom’s sociopathy. The mood created by writer (and first-time director) Dan Gilroy is simultaneously dread-fraught and beguiling throughout, with Gyllenhaal and Russo obviously vitalised by the sharply etched inhumanity of their characters. But it’s Riz Ahmed (Four Lions) who quietly steals the film as Gyllenhaal’s timid, easily exploited assistant; increasingly aghast at his boss, and in turn a moral compass and audience surrogate, he indelibly stands out amidst the film’s sordid panorama.
3.5/5 stars
Nightcrawler opens in cinemas on Thursday November 27.
