Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal gives a remarkable performance as Louis Bloom, a small-time thief who discovers a talent for taking videos of LA crime scenes and accidents to sell to a local news station. As he learns his trade he takes on an employee, and we learn that Louis has been watching self-improvement courses on Youtube as he spouts management speak to the bewildered low-life that he hires as a driver.

Louis is ambitious and utterly without a moral core, which makes him a fine match for Nina, the head of news at a struggling LA TV station who avidly snaps up his increasingly graphic images. The best scenes are between Lousi and Rene Russo’s Nina. The balance of power in the relationship shifts as Nina becomes more and more dependent on Louis’ footage to keep tenuous hold of her job, and as Louis grows in confidence. The “if it bleeds it leads” mentality of the TV station is wittily presented, with some genuinely funny dialogue at times.

Louis is ambitious and utterly without a moral core, which makes him a fine match for Nina, the head of news at a struggling LA TV station who avidly snaps up his increasingly graphic images.

The film manages to keep us interested in Louis’ rise as he overcomes a local rival and as he makes awkward conversation with the staff at the TV station, who treat him with contempt even as he tries to impress them. At a broader level, the fairly obvious link between the media’s need for ever more graphic real-life drama to portray to its voracious viewers is neatly displayed without coming across as moral crusading. But the show belongs to Gyllenhaal, who keeps us fascinated with his essentially repugnant character as he plumbs the depths of morality.

8/10