Last updated on May 3, 2015
Nightcrawler is an amazing look into both the mind of a man looking for horrific, tragic late night news stories, and of the audience that would even want that sort of information in visceral, vicarious, exciting detail.
At its most basic, Nightcrawler tells the story of Louis “Lou” Bloom, a thief who scrounges around looking for spare parts to sell to the first guy willing to buy it. He also murders some dude to get it, right in the first scene…or does he? Clearly, this is the kind of film that wants you to put the pieces together, in some sense. From the first, we learn Lou’s a hard worker, the sort who has all the skills necessary to “succeed” in life, but lacking both the direction and the opportunity. One night, after being rejected from a job at a construction company (for thievery, as you might suspect), he sees a crime scene on the highway, and a small film crew which launches onto the scene looking for a story. Just seeing this (apparently a profession called “stringing”, colloquially known as “nightcrawling”) peeks Lou’s interest – how do I do this? How much does it pay? What do I need? Lou thus starts shooting footage of accidents and crimes in Los Angeles and sells it to news channels.
However, that synopsis just does not convey how creepy and strange Lou approaches most situations. We know nothing of his former life; all we know about Lou comes through his actions, what we see on screen, and none of that appears encouraging. He lives alone, and clearly does not like other people. They turn into a means to an end, whether for the purposes of filming or just to get what Lou wants. And yet, he just seems a little weird on first glance. As the film progresses, however, you see more shades of his character, all black and no heart. Does Nightcrawler want me to see Lou as a total sociopath? I don’t think that represents an unfounded assumption. He lacks basic human empathy, and that alone should give you pause.
On the other hand, there’s a certain sort of admiration for the lengths he will go to do his job (whatever you want to call it) to the absolute peak of his ability. Lou states that he’s a hard worker, very persistent, who will get the job done. For the most part, he follows the rules in nearly every aspect – he upholds the ethics of journalism in his search for the stories that get your heart pumping. Of course, you can bend those rules, and Lou wastes no time pushing the boundaries as far as he can. But, unlike most crazy people in movies, he clearly knows the game he’s playing. You’ll notice he never does anything where he will get caught, or anything which will blow back onto him. That, I think, makes him the scariest protagonist/villain I’ve seen in a long time. He isn’t crazy or anything; he understands the game, and he plays it well, all while keeping his record clean. Evil comes in many forms, and not always in the ways you expect. Sometimes, you need to look beneath the surface even if you don’t like what you find.
Because, at a surface level, Lou actually seems likeable. You kinda want him to get away with it, on some level. You follow his story, and it plays like the inverse of a down-and-out guy building up a business; the movie itself tries to present it as if Lou’s the underdog in this situation, and that weird tension follows through the whole movie. It does not judge him, but merely displays him and says: is this what you want? Nightcrawler, just to add to this, remains darkly funny throughout, and I found myself laughing more than a few times at things I shouldn’t.
That kind of artifice, really, is the whole of Nightcrawler’s main theme about the news. Lou presents an exterior image to the world, that of a guy who just wants to show you the news, but all he really wants is for you to invest in his narrative. Poke around the outside, and you might see a little of yourself. Everybody, at some level, is fascinated with the exact same things that horrify us – triple homicides, murders, suicides, shoot outs, and the whole lot. Lou simply films what people want to see already! He provides a service for a market that already exists. We created Lou precisely because we feel this desire to see bad things happen, and that is a sobering thought. His work ethic for what we see as an amoral practice actually, functionally, succeeds in the real world – there’s your horror.
Honestly, none of this would work if not for Jake Gyllenhaal, whose undeniably award-deserving turn as Lou takes all the method-acting tropes you expect for this sort of role. He looks like he never sleeps, he rarely blinks, and never seems to miss a beat in any and all situations. The gaunt, pale complexion adds so much to the character, giving us an understanding of his general disposition in just about every scene. He just captivates you in the role, in the same way violent news story captivate us; the message is right there, in the character, paralleling its themes right on the dot. The rest of the cast simply pale in comparison; Rene Russo, unfortunately, offers nothing to her part that couldn’t be played by anyone else, and that’s a bit of a shame.
So would I recommend you watch Nightcrawler? Absolutely! Some might find it preachy or a little too “on the nose” regarding its intentions, but I felt captivated for the entirety of the film. I am still thinking about it right now, which I suppose is a good sign!
