Nightcrawler (2014)

"If you want to win the lottery you have to make the money to buy the ticket." This line seems ripped straight from a film like "The Pursuit of Happiness", however, despite appearing intrinsically uplifting on the surface, peer beneath and a truly chilling and hauntingly memorable story can be found.

Back in 2014, my 10 year old self was very disappointed when he realized this film is not a solo adventure about my favourite teleporting X-Man and was infact some weird film about the news, starring the Prince of Persia as the lead. I finally got round to watching the film 9 years later and it is without a doubt one of the greatest character films in history.

Nightcrawler is the story of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhall). At the start Lou is unemployed (and basically a thief), yet clearly a smart-talking man simply struggling to make his living in LA. After getting rejected for a job one night, he becomes a nightcrawler; a videographer of crimes and gory events which he then sells on to be TV news stories. Throughout the film Lou acts more and more depraved, reckless and outright dangerous as he progresses as a thriving nightcrawler and businessman. As a character Lou is your standard sociopath even admitting it himself, however, this film will mess with your mind. The writer and director, Dan Gilroy, intellignetly hacks your brain, miraculously forcing you to love, support and even celebrate Lou and his downright horrifying actions in the goal of success. As Gilroy bluntly puts it "finding the humanity in a sociopath". By playing optomistic and uplifting news-style music, pushing the camera closer to Lou making you feel closer to him, a smile always slightly forming at the edge of his lips as he lies, steals, tampers and cheats his way through the night. We feel bad when we meet him since he clearly strives for an admirable goal: to find a fulfilling and stable job that he enjoys and is good at... which ultimately he does. This makes every revolting push and break of the moral boundary feel like a repulsive success, but a success none the less. This alone surmounts this film as a resounding success of visual storytelling.

Don't worry, this film won't turn you into a sociopath, but it will remind you that the system favours them... so if you want to be successful in life, I suggest taking notes. Riz Ahmed as Rick (a desperate homeless man Lou hires as an intern, using vulnerable situation) acts as your voice of reason and gives a superb supporting-performance in the process.

This incredible character study and test of moral limit would not be possible without an outstanding (and arguably snubbed) performance by Gyllenhall. He truly commits to this role in the very same way Lou does to his job. Gyllenhall admitted to starving himself, shunning his friends and going nocturnal all to devolve into the gaunt, skin-crawling and kyote of Lou Bloom. It definitely works, reminding the audience that "Lou Blooms" exist in the world and thrive off it, once again forcing them to question their own moral compass. Possibly even one of the best performances in recent years.

Dubious amounts of shock and tension will have you scrabbling for the skip button throughout. Yet, despite the pockets of horror there is something undeniably, uncomfortably beautiful about the film. Even when you aren't so scared you can feel the blood in your brain, a blend of the gorgeous glow of the LA lights at night and an excellent score from James Newton will keep you thoroughly entertained.

There are similarities to films like Taxi Driver, Network, and Gone Girl as well as being another stellar performance from Gyllenall as always. If you can't tell already, I highly reccomend this film if you want an engaging and thought-provoking thriller. Personally, I find it to be a beyond underrated masterpiece. By the end I hope you will be as thrilled and chilled as I was, reminded that out there the most sick people thrive of people like us. As Lou himself says, "those people are out there, walking around with the rest of us".