#Scoundrels mousterpiece theatre movie#
#Scoundrels mousterpiece theatre professional#

But then he begins to influence people around him with his heartless corporate outlook, and he becomes more than just a symptom of the problem. At first, Bloom appears to be a cog in the media machine heвЂ™s harmless, just a creep with a video camera. The film roots its genuine, macro concerns in the culture of sensationalism, but theyвЂ™re subsumed by the micro fear Gyllenhaal embodies in his brilliant performance. If you canвЂ™t accept this logic, then Gilroy wonвЂ™t be able to sell you on his vision, a fantasy concoction of true crime and amoral journalism.

#Scoundrels mousterpiece theatre movie#

But make no mistake: though NightcrawlerвЂ™s world resembles ours, itвЂ™s as far off from real as a вЂњrealвЂќ movie can get. Unnerving chills runs through scenes like this, which wag a finger at broadcasters who manipulate news for profit. All the while, BloomвЂ™s face, darkened in the gloom of RussoвЂ™s control room, lights up with sinister glee. (Nobody but Kevin Rahm and Michael Hyatt, that is, but their pleas and suspicions fall on addersвЂ™ ears.) The plan is to get a rise out of their audience, and it works like gangbusters, twofold.

Nobody cares how Bloom obtains the footage he brings to ratings starved news director Nina (a terrific, smoldering Rene Russo), or that his materials are inevitably tinkered with to achieve the maximum desired effect from everyone watching at home. The film feels like a riff on The King of Comedy as well as a fruitfully extended episode of Tales From the Crypt whatвЂ™s scary about it has nothing to do with ghouls or ghosts but with human callousness. Nightcrawler isnвЂ™t a horror movie, per se, but the underlying truth of Bloom and what he represents is horrifying. The commentary here is familiar, but Gilroy вЂ“ who identifies with Bloom as a director of sorts on some primal level вЂ“ employs his barbs smartly. And thatвЂ™s the film in a nutshell itвЂ™s a character study melded together with a critique how of violence in media draws viewers toward barbarity like moths to a flame. ItвЂ™s a transformational moment for Bloom, who spends the rest of Nightcrawler learning the tricks of the trade and building his brand as a ruthless gatherer of video news. One fine eve, Bloom sees a flaming car wreck on the side of the highway, and, more importantly, the freelancing вЂњnightcrawlerвЂќ team (led by a wonderfully unctuous Bill Paxton) who barge onto the scene with cameras in tow, ready to capture and sell every intimate, agonizing moment to the highest bidder. (TheyвЂ™re not wrong to, either, but they do so at their own peril.) Bloom, as we meet him, is a scoundrel and a thief, and also a murderer nobody sees that but us, though, so as he doggedly pursues every chance he sees to work, weвЂ™re in on his game while everybody else dismisses him as a weirdo. The next, heвЂ™s subtly threatening them with physical or psychological harm, and he pivots between these two axes like flipping a light switch. One moment, Bloom is trying to win over his peers with his unwavering gaze, wolfish grin, and business acumen. Here, he pulls off nearly the same trick by portraying two very distinct sides of the same person. That arachnophobic joint cast Gyllenhaal in dual roles. But mostly, youвЂ™ll be entranced by Gyllenhaal, the filmвЂ™s centerpiece, who continues his 2014 campaign of self-reinvention by topping his work in MarchвЂ™s excellent Canadian production, Enemy. You may even be amazed at how lovingly Gilroy captures the grimy, lurid beauty of Los Angeles, which remains as shady by day as by night. You will laugh at Nightcrawler, but mostly out of discomfort, and when you do, your laughter will catch in your throat. But itвЂ™s the kind of вЂњgoodвЂќ that will increasingly unsettle you long after youвЂ™ve left the theater. It absolutely is good, and donвЂ™t let anybody tell you differently. Nightcrawler is the kind of movie a critic is hard-pressed to qualify as вЂњgoodвЂќ. Be warned, though, that by the time the film ends, you may find yourself wishing you could forget his leering, bug-eyed visage and dismiss his superficial graces. Lou is a passionate man, but heвЂ™s passionate for one thing only, and over the course of Nightcrawler, Dan GilroyвЂ™s directorial debut, youвЂ™ll find out exactly what that is. HeвЂ™s also a charming psychopath, which is a nice way of saying that heвЂ™s a snake wrapped up in Jake GyllenhaalвЂ™s clothing.

#Scoundrels mousterpiece theatre professional#

HeвЂ™s a young, ambitious go-getter, a diehard professional always on the lookout for good career opportunities that offer plenty of upward mobility.