Um, wow. I mean, wow. Watching the film and as soon as it was over... I was speechless. It's been a full 24 hours since I've seen it and I still can't get over how great this movie was. It's great on so many levels too. The direction, the writing, the acting, the story. Everything about this movie is the reason that I love movies. Movies like this is what we, as a society, should be excited about going to see all of the time. Not sequels. Not remakes. Not prequels or spin-offs or adaptations or comic book movies. I'm getting so tired of Hollywood and losing most of my faith in the film industry for the decisions that they're making about what deserves a wide theatrical release. Then they hit me with Nightcrawler-- singlehandedly one of the most original movies I've ever seen in my life.
Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom a shitty little man who steals copper wiring for a living. He's a sociopathic psycho with large hints of Aspbergers. He thinks he's a smooth talker reciting bouts of information and self-help dribble he no doubt memorized off the internet. He actually comes off as a smooth talker, too, but most people are able to see behind the voice and into the mind of a genuine creep. While driving one night he witnesses a car crash on the freeway. As he gets out to help, a couple of creep-ass news guys appear on the scene and film the cops saving the life of a bloodied up girl with no intention whatsoever to offer any help or intervene. This is the perfect job for Bloom. He steals a bike, pawns it for cash, purchases a camcorder and sets out to film hurt or dead people for the local news station.
What Gyllenhaal has done here that is so brilliant is invents a character that has no moral compass whatsoever. He's a leach that, in the beginning of the film, is looking to take any sort of job that is thrown his way. He's also a very violent and repressed individual. His blank stare and emaciated features only lend to amplify the creepiness exhibited from this character. He doesn't talk to humans as if they're on his level. He's got an arrogance that stops people dead in their tracks and he's essentially a pathological sociopath (if there is such a thing) that it turns him into a wildcard and will keep you afraid of him because he could literally do anything. If he doesn't win an Oscar for this film, I don't know what else he could do to win one. It's the best performance I've seen in film this year and is hands-down the winner in my book. Sorry, Michael Keaton. You really did have a shot.
The movie is also incredibly original. They say there's nothing new under the sun and every story now is based, even slightly, off something else. If that's true, then you fooled me. I've never seen anything like this movie. I was so impressed with everything. First time director Dan Gilroy takes an almost Michael Mann direction with the film, except he does it with style and succeeds where Michael Mann continues to fail miserably. That's legitimately the closest comparison I could come up with for the film. The main character is reprehensible, yet you can't turn away. The side characters are actually human beings that react as if you or I was in the situation. You're afraid of Lou, but also want to see what happens next. He's able to manipulate even the strongest of characters in Rene Russo. It's unbelievable filmmaking and one hell of a great movie.
A
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