In Review: "Nightcrawler"

In Review: "Nightcrawler"

Journalists are crazy, and really only journalists understand why.

In its most basic form, this film's plot takes strides from the classic genre/visual style/film era of film noir. (Film noir= a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. Think, black and white detective movies with venetian blinds and a femme fatale). Many noirs showcase the destruction of a man - of his soul, of his morality, of his good judgement, usually because of a woman. (Funny that this term became popular in the early 40s and 50s, a time when no one would ever say that women had any power over anything). In this case, it is not a woman that destroys our young hero but the glamour and thrill of the media.

The Plot

Enter our hero Lou Bloom (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), a young man looking for a career that he can love, advance in, and thrive in. From the beginning we know he is willing to work hard at whatever it is he plans on doing, educating himself thoroughly on the subject, and will put in the work to get to the top. Not bad intentions right? And his intentions never do waver. He just doesn't know what he is up against.

Through a serious of coincidences, Lou decides that TV crime journalism is what his true passion should be so he hires a wing man and sets up his own company of sorts traveling around LA filming crime scenes and selling them to the low-rated morning TV station, managed by Nina (played by Rene Russo). Along the way, Lou comes into some competition from an independent crime journalist named Joe (played by Bill Paxton) who thinks this kid should really just get out of the way and let the pros handle it. But before Joe even realizes it, it is Lou who is first at every major crime scene with the best and most dynamic shots. This is where good intentions can only get you so far. How is he getting all of these amazing shots? How did he get into that victim's house? How did he manage to catch a shot of the victim still lying on the ground before the police could come and pick up the evidence? Any professional journalist would tell you, that it's not something he should be doing.

The Stars

Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't usually get to be the creepy guy. He is usually the love interest or the naive kid. But he lost 30 pounds and spent all of his time working at night, many times with very little sleep. He does a great job revealing his character slowly to us. In the beginning, you are really rooting for this kid who just wants to learn and find his place in the world as we all do. But the darkness was always there, and slowly we see his true dark nature come out.

The Message

Journalists, exactly like doctors/nurses, have no time off. And journalists, exactly like lawyers, are meant to serve the public and protect their rights by law. But unlike both of these professions, journalists don't have to take a test to become a journalist, you don't need a license to practice journalism, hell, you don't even have to study journalism in school to get a job as a journalist. There are very few barriers from stopping crazy people from becoming journalists. But all of this is a double-ended sword. Do we want the government to approve who is allowed to be a journalist? Well, no, then the press would not be free. It would really be controlled by the government.

When a regular person (not a journalist) watches this movie, they will get the heebee jeebees all over. What Lou does feels wrong and creepy. But as a journalist, I totally understand where he is coming from. I'm not saying in any way that this educated journalist accepts Lou's behavior, but I do empathize. Journalism is a business, a business that makes money based on what people will read or watch. What people will pay for. The journalists need to give the people what they want in order to make money. They don't want to because most of us would rather follow our ethics of justice and truth, but many times we have no choice. That is where Nina is coming from. She is a producer who is struggling to make any money and soon she could loose her job, but all of the sudden here comes this kid with really good footage that will put her business back on top. She knows what he is bringing her is wrong, but her hands are truly tied.

This same phenomenon happens in film. Most directors don't want to put out mediocre material. Most directors do believe that their work is art and is important in the world and society. But they do have to make money, and people like sex and violence above all things. That is what the most amount of people will pay for. Eye candy without message or meaning. They don't need to learn anything, they just want to be entertained. (See all "Scary" Movies and knock-offs)

I think this film is trying to get audiences to see that. Even though this film makes us feel uncomfortable, why doesn't the rest of the garbage do that? Why is there more violence and hatred in the news then stories of salvation and forgiveness? What exactly do we like about those stories? And what will it take for us to stop?

Overall

What I really would have liked to see in this movie is the decline of Lou Bloom. We get whispers of a dark past, but we never get the whole story. We just sort of assume that whatever it was made him a little loopy to begin our story. Lou has OCD and social anxiety tendencies, but we can only guess that this has something to do with his manic behavior and many times inappropriate behavior.

There are a few things that are never fully explained in this film, giving it those noir tendencies. The relationship between Lou and Nina, Rick's (played by Riz Ahmed) back story, and whatever happens to Lou at the end of the film. Noirs do tend to leave things like this out- sometimes because of code laws preventing sexual and violent content (Code era explained here) and other times it was to allow the viewer to fill in the blanks themselves, letting their imagination run wild.

Overall, this is a movie I would encourage all young journalists to see to really understand what those ethics classes are for. Ultimately, you are the ones who decide where that camera goes and what tomorrow's headline will be.

3 out of 4 Video Cameras