Nightcrawler (2014) (English Language)

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117min

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed …and more

A desperate and obsessive man stumbles upon the world of on-the-scene crime reporting on the streets of L.A. and becomes obsessed with making it in the world of local news, fuelled by sensationalist local news stations he soon begins to blur the line between reporting on tragedy and participating in it.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the main “Nightcrawler” Louis Bloom and has already rightly been generating Oscar buzz about what is potentially a career high performance, this from a man who has excelled at playing peculiar characters but in Bloom he has truly reached a new plateau.

‘Nightcrawler’ has two main threads in its storyline which perfectly intersect thanks to Dan Gilroy’s screenplay, the story of an obsessive and borderline psychotic man determined to reach his goals regardless of the consequences, and sensationalist amoral local media outlets that fuel his obsession in the pursuit of the latest gruesome scoop on their quest for ratings.

The film goes deeper than the main storyline and there is the sense of a critique on capitalism and the “American Dream” by the time the film is over, make no mistake however there is plenty of action and dark humour and enough seat-grabbing moments of tension to keep you hooked for the entire ride.

2014 seems to be the year of the gritty and stylish thriller with ‘Nightcrawler’ maintaining the tradition, long may it continue, with a truly outstanding performance from Mr. Gyllenhaal and one of the most impressive directorial debuts in years from Dan Gilroy, ‘Nightcrawler’ is easily one of the best films of 2014.

Nightcrawler is released on the 31st of October in the UK