Monster Movie

When I originally saw the ad for "Nightcrawler" in the LA Times before it opened, I assumed that, from the title, it was another CGI-laden alien movie.   

Wrong.  

But, be sure that this is really one scary monster movie.  Jake Gyllenhall as Lou Bloom is a sinister creature like you've never seen on screen before.  Creepy.   Villainous.  Despicable.   Destructive.  

And he lives on Earth. Or, more specifically and arguably, the streets of nighttime Los Angeles.  Writer-director Dan Gilroy shows the real and seamy side of LA and, as a result, fashions a thoroughly engaging and frightening movie.

Gyllenhall, sure to score an Oscar nomination for his work, plays a creepy loser who looks like he has washed his hair in weeks.  Appearing normal, you would still cross to the other side of the street if you saw him coming down the block.   In stony silence and few chosen words, Lou Bloom evokes memories of another screen icon, that of Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver."

Bloom is looking for an income and stumbles upon the world of freelance journalism.   These days, local TV stations pay beaucoup de bucks for accident or crime scene footage shot by amateurs.   It can be a lucrative career and, outfitted with a police scanner and a clunky video camera, Lou starts driving around to find the grimmest and bloodiest of Los Angeles at night.  

To get a leg up on his competition played by Bill Paxton, Bloom starts cutting corners.   To get the best shot, he moves a corpse before the police get to the overturned car.  With scruples thrown to the wind, he finds that he has a willing buyer at a fictional TV station where the news director, played by Rene Russo, is fighting for ratings survival.   In her efforts to boost the Nielsens, the ugly footage is appealing to her and, in a strange way, she's the second monster in this piece.

Bloom finds a homeless and dim-witted Pakistani kid to be his assistant and protege.   Before long, with money in their pockets, they are able to get better equipment.  Before you can say "911," they are actually arriving at crime scenes before the police.   And that's where things get awfully sticky at the location of a home invasion robbery.   To say where the movie goes after that would require a spoiler alert.   And I want you to go see this for yourself.

Gilroy keeps the action taut and moving.   For someone living in Los Angeles, you may want to see this twice to catch all the familiar locations of the city.   And he's also smart to employ lots and lots of real life local TV reporters to play...well...local TV reporters.   It lends a level of authenticity to the film that is unmatched.

If "Nightcrawler" stumbles a bit at the end, it is in the predictable outcome.  The ending of one plotline is telegraphed five minutes ahead of time.   But it's a minor quibble because you are still mesmerized nonetheless.

There are lots and lots of good things in "Nightcrawler," but the star is clearly Gyllenhaal who conjures up a character you never want to meet but love to spend every on-screen minute with.

I sure hope he has a better hair style than Lou Bloom on Oscar night.

LEN'S RATING:  Three and a half stars.

Dinner last night:  Bratwurst, red cabbage, and broccoli.