By Prashalan Govender
Nightcrawler which stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed (Venom and The Night Of) explores the controversial career of stringers. More specifically, what happens when people in the aforementioned profession become corrupt.
Stringers, as explained by ABC News’s Nightline series, are people who “listen to police scanners and wait for word of murder and car crashes and then they drive to the scene as fast as they can and take video.” Consequently, these stringers sell the video to news organisations.
The film follows Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is a stringer that goes beyond the necessary requirements to make a success of himself in the news industry. No matter how immoral, unethical or dangerous an act is he will go through with the action if the reaction him getting what he wants (a large pay check). A theme that scarily resonates to the world we currently live in where CEO’S are being exposed as sexual predators and world leaders are accused of collusion.
However, the movie does not begin with Bloom as a stringer. The film starts with Bloom living in a failing economy being a petty thief despite being a hard worker. But when he witnesses an accident scene with a group of stringers and questions one of the stringers about what exactly the group were doing and how much a job such as theirs can earn. He finds the career suitable for him.
Thus, he enters into a contract with a pawn shop owner to become the owner of a camera and begins his twisted journey as a stringer. Starting his transformation into a savage being with little to no sense of right and wrong as he becomes increasingly hungry for fame and wealth.
The movie achieves the unsettling feeling that all thrillers aim for through careful attention to detail and the performance of it’s leading actor and supporting actor- Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed. Ahmed shines as he demonstrates just how difficult his character’s life is by being able to light up his face like a child on Christmas morning when the simplest of joys come his way- compliments, a job offer and a slight pay raise.
Furthermore, the film holds an impressive soundtrack with a score that elevates a situation without driving any attention away from the characters. Additionally, the movie the whole movie was shot during either the afternoon or night. This absence of light greatly contributed to the ominous tone of the movie. However, is as insurmountably great as Gyllenhaal’s acting.
Gyllenhaal delivers a superb performance though a careful understanding of erratic behaviour and his unforgettable empty eyes which are seen in the movie. His performance is intensely uncomfortable to watch because unlike other protagonists in thrillers such as Black Swan, Bloom is not ashamed by the way he’s been consumed by his occupation and ambition. In fact,
Bloom is the opposite of ashamed- Bloom is proud of himself for doing atrocious acts like moving dead bodies so that he can get a more dramatic shot.
Notably, the performance was just as gruelling to execute as it was to watch. “We were up every night, sleeping during the day and we didn’t have much sleep” said Gyllenhaal when questioned about the struggles encountered when playing Bloom.
Additionally, Gyllenhaal told entertainment journalist Bonnie Laufer Krebs that he had to severely cut down his food intake as he had decided that his character needed to lose weight because “… he’s scavenging, his hungry- figuratively and literally- because he does not make a lot of money at the very start of the movie and I just felt that that (skinniness) felt like him.” His instincts served him well as he earned both a Golden Globe and British Academy of Film and Arts (BAFTA) nomination for best actor in Nightcrawler.
If one is searching for an unsettling, thought-provoking film then Nightcrawler is a must-see. However, if a poster for the new season of American Horror Story is too creepy for you then Netflix’s Isn’t It Romantic will probably be more suitable for a movie night.
Diversity Times 