Member review

Nightcrawler is an intense and captivating psychological crime thriller. It casts Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom an unemployed loner living nihilistically and without purpose in the sunbathed city of Los Angeles. This sinister protagonist lives bathed in the powerful rays of the California sun however remains pale and corpse like, sunken lifeless eyes and a sickly frame however buzzes with intellectual thrust and powerful self drive. Lou Bloom is a fighter, Lou Bloom is a survivor! This is a message constantly being proven to the audience through out this ominous modern fable. He does what's necessary, attacks for what he wants and constantly leaps past the point of ethical to survive. Each side of the fascinating anti-heroes personality is fighting off everyone else to claw his way to the top. He is filmed with a quality of sinister banality or primal volatility which only forces the viewer to realise how deep Lou has already fallen down the rabbit hole. The film explores the depth of his depravity and his persistence to aim for personal growth for which he succeeds at at a rapid rate. At the beginning of this film Lou merely survives through gritty determination however after meeting Joe, a stringer (the term for a freelance cameraman who films footage of crimes and events and sells them to news channels), Lou believes he has the ability to not only do that but thrive at it magnificently! The advice of a media boss "If it bleeds, it leads!" only previews to the audience Lou's soon-to-be journey through the darkest crevices of the sordid city of Los Angeles's unseen activities, however Lou plans to be the torch that floods the unseen within the dark with light and of course profit from the suddenly illuminated barbarity. Lou attacks the position with ferocity, taking on anything, and doing the things others wouldn't dare to attempt...through his seemingly chess like social relationships to the sickening experimentation of his own insanity while cloaked in the crime ravaged darkness and fighting to escape the banality of the masses. Lou battles, controls and ultimately prospers. The emotionless yet explosive night time depravity demonstrates the lengths of human determination in the most malevolent form of human spirit. He stalks the depraved, pouncing on the stories of nocturnal savagery. He prowls the LA streets for violence, and if there isn't any, Lou knows is desires can be designed and manipulated into a sickening reality. Lou bloom hunts for the brutality of nocturnal crime he is savage, intelligent and the person who decides what you see on your nightly news. As the film encloses on it's heart pounding climax Lou, and the audience, are pushed to their absolute limits. To the point that tests a person's true character, that either makes or breaks a mans soul. He can make the choice of safety and survival or he can risk everything and make the ultimate sacrifice for everything he wants...and as you'll realise from the 117 minutes of the momentous gothic quest Lou Bloom doesn't just survive, Lou Bloom dances on the edge, revels in the madness and he thrives on the danger of the risk. He loves what he does, a Nightcrawler on the hunt, because as Lou knows "the city shines a little brighter at night".