“I can’t remember the last time I was so creeped out by a movie in such an uncomfortable yet delicious way. I’d heard similar feedback about this movie, but I wasn’t sure that I believed it. Believe it!
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Louis Bloom, a guy who’s sort of always scraped by in life with his own ingenuity and shady morals. He stumbles upon the world of nightcrawling: chasing down police scanner calls in an attempt to get some grisly video footage to see to a news network. It isn’t the premise so much that skeeved me out. It’s the character. He’s very direct and matter of fact, which gets intense when he uses his logic to justify some of his shady behavior and ruthless actions. It sort of needs to be experienced as opposed to described, but believe me, it’s terrifying. He does some questionable things, but then backs it up with an explanation that sounds perfectly logical if you’re completely heartless. It also helps that I’ve been torn on Gyllenhaal as of late. I will forever be in love with him as Donnie Darko, but after a frustrating and less than ideal stage door encounter with him when he was off-Broadway a couple years ago, I’ve sort of cooled on him. Yes, he’s a great actor (and a gorgeous one to boot) but I’m not so quick to get excited about him. Approaching this film with that leeriness, combined with his haunted gaunt look set me on edge. His execution as Bloom is perfection, which is why I simultaneously wanted to run out the door and was glued to my seat to see what he’d do next.
Nightcrawler – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/”