'Nightcrawler' actor Jake Gyllenhaal is great, but the movie's conception is off
In writer-director Dan Gilroy鈥檚 鈥淣ightcrawler,鈥� Jake Gyllenhaal plays聽Louis Bloom, a sociopath 鈥� or is it psychopath? I can never get those two聽straight 鈥� who discovers his groove working as a freelance videographer.聽These are the guys who, rushing to accident sites, supply the nightly聽television news with their daily dollop of domestic violence and freeway聽carnage. In an environment where 鈥渋f it bleeds, it leads,鈥� they know聽there鈥檚 a huge market for their wares.Gilroy, with the immense contribution of his cinematographer, Robert聽Elswit, luxuriates in the seamy side of the Los Angeles night world. He鈥檚 trying to聽make an L.A. noir that captures the tabloid garishness of photographers聽like Weegee. He鈥檚 also trying to create, in Louis Bloom, a kind of anti-hero hero 鈥� a modern version of Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver."听
But the lives of these videographer cowboys, high on adrenaline and聽the quick fix of cash, need a much greater scope than this film provides.聽By turning the loner Louis into a nutcase 鈥� if he blinked at all during聽the movie, I missed it 鈥� the movie becomes a species of horror film.聽
Gyllenhaal, alarmingly thinned out, gives a first-rate wacko performance聽in the Anthony Perkins mode, but it鈥檚 at the service of a bum conception.聽Gilroy wants to have it both ways: He wants Louis, who perpetrates some聽ghastly escapades, to epitomize the sick soul of media exploitation, but聽he also celebrates him as an entrepreneurial go-getter who is just giving us聽hypocrites what we secretly (or not-so-secretly) crave. On balance, Gilroy聽seems to favor the go-getter. He鈥檚 seduced by his creation. If Louis were聽to watch this movie, he would likely approve. Grade:聽C+ (Rated R for violence including graphic images, and for language.)
