Review of Nightcrawler (2014) by Bhbarry — 02 Nov 2014

"Nightcrawler" stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo and Bill Paxton in a film written and directed by Dan Gilroy. Although opening on or about Halloween eve, and with a suggestive title lending itself to that ritual, the film is actually the story of those vulture-like papparazzi who, instead of following celebs in innocent daily real life situations, seek to capture the tragedies and "breaking news" stories that besiege our evening news each night. In the mid 20th Century, these photo journalists would freelance and sell their wares to the highest newspaper bidder. Now, in the era of television and video and digital photography, the suppliers become video camera operators and the bidders are the news directors of local tv stations.

As so ably portrayed by Mr. Gyllenhaal, the film tells the story of one such video cameraman and the lengths and extremes he will go to "get the shot" or "capture the video". It also depicts his enablers in the newsrooms of Los Angeles who empower and enable these "nightcrawlers" to reap the economic benefits of their endeavors. The film is well paced and will hold your interest and involvement and makes its point in an artistic although not too subtle a manner. I give the film an 8.0, primarily because of Mr. Gyllenhaal’s fine work but, also, because of the ability of Mr. Gilroy to both write and direct without sacrificing one role for the other..