Nightcrawler: Dan Gilroy writes & directs, Jake Gyllenhaal stars (October 2014)

I like Gilroy's quote upthread: It was when the character of Lou Bloom (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) came into the picture that I realized it was ultimately more of a character study than it was about this unique world.

I did feel it was more about one man than a satire of the media per se. TV news is a world in which this monster can thrive but it's not full of monsters.

surprised people didn't find this heavy-handed. once you get past the pastiche of King of Comedy/Taxi Driver/Network there's just a bunch of implausible junk and the sledgehammer obvious corporation = sociopath allegory - which is a novel character device, but it can't (and doesn't) sustain the movie

like RM/RM, i was more interested in this as a character study than a social commentary.

and there's a damn chase scene.

americans, always with the car chase

RMRM, this movie is nowhere near as ballsy or coherent as The King of Comedy.

True. TKOC is one of my favourite movies. I just liked the homage here. It felt like a shrewd way to update Pupkin but obviously it's a much less complex and thought-provoking film which moves like a thriller rather than a black comedy. Fun though.

my problem w that is that all the thriller elements that followed killing Paxton's crew really strained credibility. I just didn't buy that he could sell footage of him messing w a crime scene and not be arrested/have his evidence seized etc. or drive around at a bazillion miles an hour in a sports car and not get noticed, arrested, or crash etc.

Is people driving fast without getting arrested or crashing a thing that usually bothers you in movies? Because it happens all the time.

it depends on the context. it didn't bother me in Drive, for example, where evading capture/detection is central and integrated into the film. here it primarily bothered me at the post-shootout chase scene. cops would've been all over anybody interfering in a high speed chase that way, but hey happy ending he ends up with multiple vans and a thriving business at the end! yeah right

"corporation = sociopath allegory - which is a novel character device"

it is not rly

well sure there's American Psycho and Alien and probably some others I'm forgetting but idk it doesn't seem all that common to me to have a character so fully embodying corporate-speak

Nightcrawler: Dan Gilroy writes & directs, Jake Gyllenhaal stares

Watched this over the weekend (two sittings because baby) and really enjoyed it. Would agree that it is critical of rather than a critique of the media / news, and most interesting as a (lack of) character study; JG as Lou Bloom was such an empty vessel being filled up with auto-didactic MBA bullshit gleaned from the internet with no critical capacity that it was fascinating. I like that he completely lacked a moral compass. So I suppose I subscribe to the corporations-as-sociopaths angle.

'Nightcrawler' and the Brand Called Lou Bloom™
https://www.popmatters.com/nightcrawler-dan-gilroy-branding-2608121628.html

(heads up/warning, the essay eventually gets around to namechecking Baudrillard)

This is a risible and stupid film and I can’t believe it’s not over yet

Only wound up watching this because I confused it with Foxcatcher and the other thing I thought of watching was an hour longer.

Kinda mad I watched this movie

that was the point maaan

why the fuck do a-listers star in these comic book films

Astonished anyone itt liked this movie five years ago, maybe the things it was being wry about are just that much more omnipresent now but even apart from the commentary aspects this is just an overwrought and unconvincing bucket of dishwater. Like Network rewritten by stupid people.

The sexual menacing of RR by JG doesn’t add anything, isn’t convincing, and doesn’t pay off in any way other than a joke written by a dimwitted teenager about “doing the things I ask you too when we’re in your apartment.”

Haven’t been this mad I watched a movie perhaps ever, what a fart

eh after the first twenty minutes network is also rubbish tbf

Finally saw this on Netflix, and it feels familiar and relevant to our times: the incel protagonist, the gig economy, the idea of parasitic capitalism. As someone whose most stressful moments are negotiating freelance rates, the many many scenes of rate haggling were as suspenseful as waiting for the cops to show up at the restaurant.

Felt derivative of Collateral, in its look and its overt themes and its L.A., and from the start it's hard to believe we're going to be stuck sharing two hours with this guy. But there's nothing wrong with having two L.A. nighttime thrillers with damaged psychos. Loved Russo's character.

This is one of those films after first watch I thought, “10-15 years this will be criterion certified.”

Also had the same reaction to John Wick - but that is a better film.

Didn't feel like reviving the thread but I saw this last year and loved the hell out of it

I didn't get an incel vibe from Jakey boy in this, more like someone for whom sex is strictly a transactional commodity or something

when I think of proto incels I think of Seth Rogen in Observe and Report

Started watching this last week - got as far as Gyllenhaal (sp) negotiating with Russo for the first bit of footage he sells but bailed out because it didn't suit my mood. Will come back though - he's really unnerving in it. Maybe the best performance I've ever seen from him.