Nightcrawler
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo
Directed by Dan Gilroy
The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and unwell in writer-director Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, a lurid L.A. story that would likely leave cynical crime novelist James Ellroy nodding in grim approval.
Our introduction to Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) comes as he assaults an unsuspecting security guard in order to make off with some stolen chain link that can be peddled for little more than pocket change. Brief but brilliantly executed, this sequence tells us all we need to know about Bloom. He's an amoral, adaptable scavenger who has a knack for identifying people's weaknesses, particularly those who underestimate him.
All of these attributes serve him exceedingly well when he stumbles into a new career as a freelance videographer, racing to accident and crime scenes in hopes of scoring grisly footage he can hock to a television news director (Rene Russo) who trades in misery and takes professional satisfaction in fear- mongering.
Between this and Enemy, Gyllenhaal has delivered two of the most unsettling performances to have darkened local screens this year. (Three actually, given his double role in Enemy.) As his alienated, emaciated insomniac tries to pass as normal in a world that barely notices him, you'll be forgiven for feeling some sympathy.
Alas, he only seems hapless until the moment he establishes some legitimate leverage, allowing him to reveal the cold-blooded predator he truly is.
The action escalates exhilaratingly as Bloom chases a story that will accord him legitimacy. However, it's ultimately the depths of depravity that Gyllenhaal displays as an unlikely but adroit puppet-master that leave your skin crawling long after your heart rate has returned to normal.
