Nightcrawler (2014)

I watched Dan Gilroy‘s ‘Nightcrawler‘ for the first time today, after hearing and seeing a lot about it. Going into the film, I knew it starred Jake Gyllenhaal as an anti-hero. I didn’t know what he does to become an anti-hero in the audiences’ eyes, or even what the over-arching narrative was about. Despite this, I had my hopes high for the film because of the coverage it has received since its release. I was correct in expecting the story to be dark and seedy, partly due to the title and partly due to the poster. With little-to-no research, I jumped into the film.

Spoilers

In the cold open, Gyllenhaal’s Character, Lou, was well established. He is cold, emotionless (unless he can use those polite emotions in his manipulation of others for gain)he is a sociopathic, and unconventional, criminal from the off. We know this from the first scene where he is stealing chain linked fence, and then assaults, and steals from, a police officer. We figure out extremely quickly that our ‘hero’, isn’t really a ‘hero’. An obvious underlying commentary of the film is that of the corrupt emotionless business in local tv news, because Lou’s drive is fed by the media which is fed by ratings(the public). It is this drive that causes the majority of damage by the end of the film and gives this unlikable anti-hero a bloody victory. this film screams its, arguably unoriginal, social commentary at the viewers, with good reason because of the modern stray from real news towards sensationalisation. However, I would prefer to talk about the visuals. It is very important that the majority of the narrative is set in the night. Not only does it make logistical sense in terms of the story, but it makes Lou almost constantly shrouded in darkness to reach success. This setting also makes for great cinematic moments with a dark background and an orange, white or blue light, presumably from streetlights revealing Lou. 

Another important point of the film was Riz Ahmed‘s Character, Rick, who is the polar opposite of his boss, Lou. Rick is naive and sweet but perhaps not as driven to the degree that Lou is. Through showing this likeable type of character exists in the world, compared to sociopathic entrepreneurs and workaholic tv directors, it gives hope to the viewer that this archetype may win out. However, towards the end of the film, Lou gets Rick killed on purpose to further his career, thus killing the audiences’ hope.

Overall, I enjoyed this film for a number of reasons. The metaphor it holds along with the people it represents feels like an important message to send, and the film had a definite momentum that kept me watching. The Brechtian end to the film left me with a moral defeat, which I personally like in a film because it means it was good enough to make me feel. There was very little to argue with in the film, in my opinion, like there was no noticeable poor acting from the cast. Perhaps it could be said that it was slow at times, but I feel as though it is important to show each development of Lou to keep the momentum. A really fantastic film about a great anti-hero.