A Modern Masterpiece

Gyllenhaal has never been creepier. He's half a step away from being a full-blown serial killer...without having actually killed anyone. Those eyes....creepy as fuck.

Anyway, if there was any justice, Gyllenhaal would get an Oscar nom for this, but I'm afraid that won't happen.

BTW, I liked this film more than Gone Girl or Interstellar.

A penis shot?

I am pretty sure you were supposed to laugh.

hm. I thought it was very entertaining and well done but I don't think I'd call it a masterpiece. Just a very good film that I'll likely forget. Lots of scenes that made me chuckle though, and Jake is great of course.

and idk if this was done on purpose but some of the music just didn't fit in with the movie at all.

As Nightcrawler opens, Louis "Lou" Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a ne'er-do-well earning a pitiful living stealing fencing and construction materials. His eyes turn with desire toward a sports-car dealership as he tools around Los Angeles in a rusting Toyota. Ambitious, sharp, and largely unburdened by morality, a light bulb turns on in Lou's head as he observes men filming the scene of a fiery car crash. He soon becomes a freelance member of this sordid field, listening to police radio and racing to capture footage of death, disaster, mayhem, and other bumps in the urban night. He then sells the results to the local media, forging a particular relationship with a female graveyard-shift producer (Rene Russo) conscious of his improving eye for ratings-elevating gore and spectacle. Critiquing if-it-bleeds-it-leads media sensationalism is hardly novel, but this is a minor, minor problem in a film overflowing with atmosphere, energy, humor, and general vinegar. It is an auspicious directorial debut for screenwriter Dan Gilroy. He is lent significant aid by director of photography Robert Elswit, who has perfectly shot the spaces and textures of L.A. before in such films as Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Here, the bright lights and deep shadows of the city are at once majestic and foreboding.

A gaunt Gyllenhaal delivers what may be the finest performance of his career so far as this peculiar denizen of the night: part entrepreneurial power player, part vulgar journalist, part downright psychopath. His cadence is crisp and studied as his eyes veer from wild to icy to simply dead. The film wags its finger at Lou and the industry to which he caters, yet it also wisely blends its disgust with a type of respect for his macabre showmanship: after all, who has not slowed down a tad when driving past a particularly well-crunched automobile or guiltily fixated on a riveting murder trial on the news? In one fantastic sequence, the centerpiece of the film, Lou finds his way to the scene of a home invasion and triple homicide even before the police, and there is a partly nauseating, partly tantalizing sense of discovery as he documents the blood-drenched aftermath in the (near) present tense.

A-

This has one of the best car chase scenes in recent memory. There were actual stakes and a sense of danger.

I agree with this point but I meant a sense of danger for police and the other drivers on the road.

Were you rooting for Louis?

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a career defining performance here and one that is hopefully rewarded come Oscar time. He is truly committed to the character and completely disappears in the role. Rene Russo was also excellent and incredibly entertaining. The film itself features excellent direction and a great score. It is also quite intense. I do think it was a tad too long and that is the only thing keeping me from giving it an "A." Definitely recommended.

A-

Bro

He looks, talks and acts like a psychopath. He's one of the creepiest characters I have seen in any film over the past 12 months.

Yep. He's smart, but an absolute nut job. No morals whatsoever.

Great movie. Jake Gyllenhaal is so fucking good here. It would be a crime if he wasn't nominated for an Oscar for it. Rene Russo deserves a Best Supporting Actress nomination too.

8/10 (A-)

This movie had some absolutely gorgeous shots of nighttime L.A. And yet at the same time they made L.A. same as seedy as the people inhabiting it. Then you have the adrenaline filled shots in front and inside of a high speed car, plus the voyeuristic shots of the movies within the movie. This is Robert Elswit's best work since There Will Be Blood blew us all away seven years ago.

Jake Gyllenhaal is as much of a powerhouse in front of the camera. A creepy, morally bankrupt and at times repulsive human with a sharp tongue, it would be easy to dismiss Louis Bloom as a less successful Jordan Belfort or Daniel Plainview. Like the actors responsible for those iconic performances, Jake really sinks his teeth in to the material, elevating him above all of his hubris' and into a fascinating ambiguity. There's no reason to like or root for him, other than being the main character, but I could never bring myself to wish him harm. Jake getting his comeuppance would mean the end of this universe, and I always wanted to keep going. The movie never asks you to feel sympathy for this guy, just to stay with him until the end.

Gilroy deserves some credit too. Sure he's handed an easy win, but you have to close it out with a great story and an appropriate pace to travel that story with. And for the most part he succeeds! The rest of the characters are thin, but each have enough moments. Paxton is the supporting standout, coming across as even worse than Bloom, even when he's extending (what he considers) a helping hand. Nightcrawler could use a little tightening here and there, yet overall it is a big winner.

Dan Gilroy's creepy-crawly Nightcrawler is a surprisingly entertaining look at the underbelly of Los Angeles and the gore-hungry modern news media. Jake Gyllenhaal is phenomenal as the totally unhinged Lou Bloom, offering a fascinatingly creepy centerpiece for the film. Gyllenhaal takes risks with almost every project, and this may be his most accomplished performance to date. He is backed up by a terrific supporting turn from Rene Russo (welcome back, girl). The subject matter has been explored before, to be sure, but never in quite this way. B+

It's a solid, intense story with Gyllenhaal performing at some of his best (got those crazy eyes down) and Rene Russo is great support. There were definitely a couple of greatly edited and performed scenes here (examples being the restaurant scene and the murder footage being first broadcast).

It might not be a masterpiece, but it's a damn solid thriller. Gyllenhaal kills it here as a highly intelligent, immoral, creep, and Russo is almost as equally brilliant in her performance as a washed up tv-news veteran. I found the scenes between those two disturbingly uncomfortable, but at the same time pretty damn funny.

It was obvious to me that the both of them were REALLY messed up individuals who more than deserved each other lol. Also, I have to agree with Caius that the police chase towards the end is one of the most exciting car chases I have seen a while.

I didn't give a shit about any of the people involved, but it was still very tense and well shot, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't on edge the whole time eventhough I knew the outcome.

Nightcrawler

The best films take a profession or industry and shine a light on to it. Nightcrawler shines the light into the late-night news room and its breaking-story footage hunters, or "nightcrawlers" as they are known. Full of business principles quoted from a mad man played by the brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal, the film charts the rise of Video Production News; being the first on the scene of crimes and accidents in Los Angeles.

It is a special and unique film. Touching on questions of ethics and morality, but never being weighed down by them, Nightcrawler remains direct and focused in its bid to bring to life the quote "If you want to win the lottery, you've got to make the money to buy a ticket". Gilroy is the new Mann in how he captures the city, with the LA mood tinting each shot. The cinematography is crisp and wide, and the dialogue is intense, humorous and strangely inspiring. It's lovely to see Rene Russo back from the her lengthy break in films, but Gyllenhaal is the star of this show. He doesn't oversell the creepiness, but it's present in his forthright and ambitious nature surrounding the business of death. A terrific performance indeed. The score could have jazzed up and complemented the Los Angeles shooting locale, and the tension could have been ramped up at times, but that doesn't detract from what is a top grade modern thriller.

A-