Review: Nightcrawler
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Don't look now, but Jake Gyllenhaal is McConaughey-ing.
City Paper grade: A-
Don’t look now, but Jake Gyllenhaal is McConaughey-ing. After a weird string of roles that failed to even crack the lid on the irreverent leading man’s toolbox (Prince of Persia?!), he seems to have course-corrected, banging out edgier fare (see: Enemy) that gives him, and us, a little something to work with.
Dan Gilroy’s shadow-cloaked debut might just contain Gyllenhaal’s meatiest and most marketable role in years, a performance so eye-opening you’ll find yourself making excuses for some of the film’s flimsier devices. A hard-driving but directionless petty criminal operating in the non-glam circles of Los Angeles, Louis Bloom is relentless without having anything to be relentless about, his unblinking discipline pushing him toward a goal he hasn’t yet set. (A place along the autism spectrum is something that's alluded to, but never addressed.) His ambition finds its outlet in “nightcrawling” — risky freelance camera work that places him, and later his stammering street-kid partner (Riz Ahmed), in violent and compromising situations.
Bloom’s footage soon becomes invaluable to struggling TV producer Nina (Rene Russo), leading to a complex professional and personal relationship shaped by their shared appetite for control. Unpredictable, unscrupulous and often straight-up spooky, Gyllenhaal’s character is one you find yourself rooting for, even if the right thing to do is to root for him to be arrested. Gilroy is so aware of what he’s got that he unrealistically structures his world to Bloom’s benefit, but Gyllenhaal is too good for it to matter.
