Nightcrawler

Having  now watched Nightcrawler on my own, I can certainly say that it is certainly one of this years biggest Oscar snubs. Having only picked up the one nomination for best original screenplay, there has been a big outcry this past week concerning Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as the ambitious, totally insane Lou Bloom. Unfortunately, despite many (including myself) seeing this as Gyllenhaal's career best performance, he narrowly missed out on the Best Actor Oscar nomination. Whether this is a correct decision is open to interpretation, as I even admitted that Bradley Cooper despite being a surprise nomination was certainly a deserved one, but it does seem to beg for a bigger category, as only 5 nominations is probably not enough. However, this film is not all about Gyllenhaal, for debut director Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler is a great achievement, and certainly he appears to be a name to watch out for in the future.

I mentioned that I thought this was Gyllenhaal's best acting performance, and it is a statement I stand by. Despite his excellence in Brokeback Mountain, the preparation he did for this role (much like his late friend Heath Ledger), losing 30 pounds to complete Lou's gaunt look, was excellent. As well as a physical preparation, Gyllenhaal would have had to undergo great psychological preparation in order to pull off Lou's psychopathic character, which he did perfectly. In the movie Prisoners, Gyllenhaal gave his character an obvious blink, but this was topped by Lou Bloom's sinister grin, which is very reminiscent of the grin used by Christian Bale in American Psycho, and Bloom is another one of those anti-hero characters that the viewer can't help but love. As well as Gyllenhaal, I was thoroughly impressed by Rick (Riz Ahmed, Four Lions). I felt that Ahmed but a lot of effort and perseverance into his role, playing Rick's simple yet brave character, who is sucked in by Lou's lies, and manipulated by him easily. He was a character that created a lot of emotion for the viewer. Rene Russo also put in a good performance as Nina, the news producer who falls victim to Lou's manipulation too, and also becomes his strange, sick, romantic fantasy. Despite the good support all the plaudits really do go to Gyllenhaal, certainly his best performance yet and I hope to see more like this from him in the future, as he really is as talented as many actors out there yet fails to receive the widespread recognition.

Nightcrawler certainly has an excellent story, and I'm glad Dan Gilroy has received a nomination for his screenplay. As well as that, the film has great sound, and the clever use of another camera in the film when Lou is filming crime scenes, the cinematography is impressive. I think what stood out about his film was the message it represents. Nightcrawler serves to prove that the American Dream isn't all it seems, as we see the lengths Lou has to go to make his mark on the world, the brutality of his job, and also the brutality of real-life journalism, and the distances people will go just to get a good story. This was an excellent film which I found to be very intelligent, with of course an outstanding acting performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, it's a film I would recommend to those who can appreciate great acting and who like a dark, violent story, and would give this film a rating of 9/10.