At first glance Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) seems like a failure, but he has something that one needs more than anything else in this modern, capitalist world: faith in his own talent, irrepressible will, and above all no scruples. At the beginning of Dan Gilroy’s caustic satire about moral decay and excess in our media-driven society, Lou is literally scraping by as an urban scavenger. His can’t find a steady job or even an unpaid internship. The dodgy-looking, and slightly manic Lou with his sunken cheeks looks like he could explode at any time. By chance he comes across a TV reporter selling his recording of a car accident for a hundred dollars. Lou sees his chance. He gets a camcorder, buys a police radio scanner, and chases after catastrophes. He quickly learns what the business is all about: extreme, excess, dramatic stories with white victims and black perpetrators. This is the kind of “news” TV journalist Nina (Rene Russo) wants to see, a desperate TV news director whose best days are behind her. It’s almost sexual when Nina and Lou talk excitedly about extreme recordings. They push each other to reckless pursuits and behaviour that cross the ethical lines and can hardly be called journalism, but it’s still close to what passes today as such. This approach alone could makes Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut a noteworthy film but what sets NIGHTCRAWLER apart is that it carries its cynical, sinister view of the world through to its inevitable end and holds a mirror up to our media-obsessed and voyeuristic society.

Michael Meyns