TIFF Review: Nightcrawler A Tense, Disturbing Experience

“You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.”

“You don’t just fall on the top of the mountain.”

Merely two of any pearls of wisdom offered by Lou. When we meet him, he is unemployed. To make money he steals chain-link fencing and other similar materials, and sells them to construction sites. The foreman won’t hire Lou. He won’t give a job to a thief.

Lou is tenacious though, always looking for the next opportunity. Soon he stumbles upon the scene of an accident. He watches as a small crew films police officers trying to rescue a woman from a burning car. He approaches a man with a camera and asks him what he does. Joe (Bill Paxton) is a veteran “nightcrawler.” He works freelance and sells his footage to whichever station is paying the most. Lou asks him for a job but Joe laughs him off. No matter. Lou will find a way.

And find a way he does. Lou steals an expensive bike and pawns it for some cash as well as a videocamera and police scanner. He starts nightcrawling, speeding to accidents and violent crime scenes as quickly as possible. At first he has no idea what he’s doing, but as he repeatedly reminds us, Lou is a fast learner. He is also fearless and reckless, two attributes for a nightcrawler. When he finally manages to beat Joe to a crime scene, he gets his camera inches away from a man as he bleeds to death, shot during a carjacking. Nina (Rene Russo), the news manager of L.A.’s lowest-rated station, is impressed and buys the footage. She also tells Lou what the station is looking for. Maximum carnage essentially. Major car accidents, murders, and other violent crime. Preferably white victims and minority assailants. The nicer the suburb, the better.

The first half of Nightcrawler, the directorial debut of screenwriter Dan Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy, Real Steel), covers Lou’s entry into the business. Eventually he hires a navigator, the desperate Rick (Riz Ahmed), and upgrades both his equipment and automobile. This half is often hilarious. Highlights include Lou’s initial ineptitude as a nightcrawler (he pisses off both the police and his fellow nightcrawlers) and his interview of Rick, who is clearly weirded out by the intense and fast-talking man asking him about his work history. There is also Lou himself, with his strange self-help blather and his tendency to freak out whomever he’s talking to.

The second half is a whole other story. Without any spoilers, two set pieces (a home invasion at night in the suburbs and a confrontation between police and bad guys at a restaurant) are easily the most thrilling and tense scenes this viewer has witnessed all year. Hands were gripping the seat. They are expertly directed and edited. Nightcrawler might not be a traditional horror movie (it is plenty horrific), but those scenes are a master class in generating and sustaining suspense.While it is a riveting blend of character study, thriller, and satire, the glue that holds everything together is Gyllenhaal.

Excellent in last year’s Prisoners, he has never been better. Looking gaunt and slightly deranged, he completely becomes Lou Bloom. This is a man capable of anything, and by the end, he has repulsed and fascinated in equal measure. If there is any justice the Academy will reward Gyllenhaal with a Best Actor nomination.

A cutting examination of the modern news business, Nightcrawler leaves you shaken and disturbed. Sure, it isn’t exactly innovative to point out the shamefulness of the “if it bleeds, it leads” ethos, but it’s done forcefully and convincingly, and it’s hard to imagine someone not being shocked by what they see here. Easily one of the best movies of the year, and a must-see for any fan of a good thriller.

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