{"id":3588,"date":"2014-10-31T04:04:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T11:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3588"},"modified":"2014-10-31T04:05:43","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T11:05:43","slug":"review-nightcrawler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=3588","title":{"rendered":"Review: NIGHTCRAWLER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Eager, with a large plastic smile, Louis Bloom, a budding news videographer, tells his television producer that he\u2019s working on framing. She tells him the kind of video they\u2019re looking for is a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut. Lots of blood, Bloom remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cNightcrawler\u201d is all about framing \u2013 both through a camera\u2019s lens and journalistically. The slickly composed narrative addresses fear-based media and how our news is warped by the need for sensational reporting. At the center of the film is the mysterious Bloom (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who suffers from an antisocial personality disorder, which makes him perfect for a career as a \u201cnightcrawler,\u201d a freelance news videographer. He just doesn\u2019t like other people and has no qualms about getting into someone\u2019s personal space, if it means he gets the shot.<\/p>\n

When Bloom meets Nina (Rene Russo), a local television news producer, he tells her that he learns things by surfing the Internet. Later, he tells her she is one of his topics of study \u2013 you can learn a lot about a person from the Internet, he says. This is both creepy and intriguing to Nina, who’s curious and in need of a ratings boost to keep her job at the station.<\/p>\n

To be a freelance news videographer one monitors a police scanner often at all hours of the night and tries to beat the police to the crime scene. This frustrating cat-and-mouse game leads to inconsistent but sometimes shocking results. Car wrecks, stabbings, arrests, shootings \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of blood on the streets, but maybe not enough to satisfy Nina, who needs to feed her hungry audience regardless whether she follows the accepted canons of journalistic ethics.<\/p>\n

Other videographers are already firmly entrenched in the bloody video business. Bill Paxton plays a nightcrawler named Joe Loder, an experienced news videographer who sees his business threatened by Bloom. Loder\u2019s video van is impressive \u2013 he\u2019s got the technical side of things figured out \u2013 but does he have the killer instinct? And as Bloom proves to be really good at the nightcrawler business, an antisocial personality disorder is better than the best cameras money can buy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNightcrawler\u201d is written and directed by Dan Gilroy (writer of \u201cThe Bourne Legacy\u201d), who makes this film his impressive directorial debut. Working with the doe-eyed Gyllenhaal, Gilroy has crafted a very interesting and entertaining character in Bloom\u2013a Travis Bickle-type (Robert De Niro\u2019s character in \u201cTaxi Driver\u201d) but with no moral center.<\/p>\n

Viewers will be reminded of the Bret Easton Ellis adaptation of \u201cAmerican Psycho\u201d as Bloom methodically increases his bloody level of wrong-doing in pursuit of capturing the perfect crime. The gaunt and angular Gyllenhaal is a bit unearthly in the role. His fixed expression and wide, piercing eyes immediately put those around him on edge. He seems to be an old soul in a young body, almost like the alien played by Scarlett Johansson in \u201cUnder the Skin.\u201d This leads to an engaging pairing with Rene Russo, who, at age 60, still makes a formidable sexy presence. Bloom offers her a proposal \u2013 he likes older women, he says.<\/p>\n

The excitement of being a nightcrawler makes for some electrifying sequences. As Bloom develops his skill, a montage shows him on the beat\u2013shooting video under various frightening conditions. Gyllenhaal\u2019s expression only subtly changes as the action intensifies \u2013 it is a measured performance bound to garner awards notice. And the conclusion might bring you to the edge of your seat. Gilroy\u2019s script is as manipulative as the fear-based news media he\u2019s satirizing. And by cleverly always keeping fear somewhere in the frame, \u201cNightcrawler\u201d is one of the smartest thrillers I\u2019ve seen this year.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This review first appeared in print in the Times-Herald<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking for something creepy to see this weekend, Jonathan has a suggestion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3588"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3595,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3588\/revisions\/3595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}