'Nightcrawler' sheds dim light on ratings-driven crime news
No wonder Dan Gilroy's "Nightcrawler" opens on Halloween.
This frightening drama could scare the crud out of professional journalists.
In "Nightcrawler" (nothing to do with Alan Cumming's mutant "X-Men" character), responsible, trained, experienced editors and producers who once ruled as gatekeepers for the American public have been undermined by an invasion of the shoddy snatchers.
Real journalists have been replaced with amoral business suits solely interested in beefing up the bottom line, be it income or TV ratings.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a jumpy petty thief and scavenger whose skull-like face, matted hair and sunken eyes give him the appearance of a war camp survivor.
His mental light bulb switches on when he witnesses a crash on the L.A. freeway one night. Two guys with cameras jump out of the van and shoot footage of the bloody wreck. As boss Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) explains with a cliché, "If it bleeds, it leads!"
He's not a trained journalist. Just a freelance video hound on the hunt for graphic, gory, sensationalistic footage of accidents, shootings and tragedies he can sell to news stations.
Lou becomes fascinated.
After some clumsy first attempts to shoot news footage with a consumer-grade handicam, Lou proves to be a quick study with a voracious appetite for Internet information, especially about business plans and corporate goals.
Lou hires an assistant (Riz Ahmed), a dimwitted and easily manipulated homeless man, and gradually ups his game with better equipment and a fancy red sports car capable of transporting him to crime and accident scenes even before the police arrive.
He also finds a conscience-challenged soul mate and business partner in Nina (Rene Russo), a news producer of a low-rated TV station. She wants all the bleeding and fear-mongering (particularly of crime invading upscale, lily-white communities) that Lou can supply.
"Think of our newscast as a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut!" she tells him.
Lou gives her exactly what she wants. He even repositions a body at a wreck site to get a more emotionally compelling shot. For a long time, Lou and Nina reap ratings bonuses through their synergistic relationship.
Then, one night, Lou arrives at a home invasion before the cops - and before the invaders have left the premises after killing everyone in the house.
"Nightcrawler" qualifies as a minor sequel to Sidney Lumet's superb 1976 drama "Network" with Paddy Chayevski's prescient screenplay predicting that TV news shows will stage assassinations to reap ratings bonanzas from viewers who aren't far in conscience from audiences back at the Colosseum.
Produced by the director/writer's brother, Tony Gilroy, and edited by his other brother, John Gilroy, "Nightcrawler," as the title promises, takes us into the underbelly of big city "news" removed of all ethical and moral barricades, something like an update of Billy Wilder's classic newsman drama "Ace in the Hole."
But that's a lofty comparison to Gilroy's drama, a less sophisticated project in which the arc-challenged main character is eerily engaging for while, yet grows a bit tiresome since he never changes.
That Gyllenhaal totally commits to Lou can't be questioned. The actor seamlessly embodies this strange and scary man, finding ways to turn his fidgety tics and baleful glances into reams of telling information.
"Nightcrawler" also perfectly captures the mood, texture and adrenaline rush of chasing big city crime news at night.
As a former crime reporter who worked a 3 p.m. to midnight shift, I can verify that Gilroy gives us a glimpse of this world that's fresh, freaky and frighteningly fascinating.
“Nightcrawler”
★ ★ ★ ½
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton
Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Other: An Open Road Films release. Rated R for language and violent images. 117 minutes