Movie Meltdown

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Nightcrawler

by Kyle Armstrong

     Seeing Jake Gyllenhaal back in that weird, dark, edgy character archetype makes me feel a little better seeing him again. I have always been reluctant towards Gyllenhaal's acting and after seeing Nightcrawler I kind of get why. Gyllenhaal has been cast into these boring lovable, sometimes doof, sometimes jerkish characters that just don't fit him as an actor, but seeing him come back to a character that is on the edge of insanity is just relieving.

     Plot: Lou Bloom seems like a regular guy doing what he can to make money, even if that mean stealing copper wire to make profit. As the character slowly develops we see something in Lou, something is very wrong with Lou, but instead of ignoring it, he seems to know this and rejoices in it, even uses it to his advantage. He finds a new way to make money, a more profitable way that he seems to like much more. He starts submitting his footage into a news broadcast channel and starts making much more money off of that than selling copper wire.

      What intrigued me to this movie in the first place is the movie poster and how odd it is, the look of it reminds me of an '80's thriller film, something along the lines of They Live, that was the first movie that came to mind. Now that I think about it, Nightcrawler is kind of like an '80's thriller, yet the character himself, Lou Bloom, has more of a resemblance to Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange.

     Lou is this maniacal villain that will throw his closest ally under the bus to get what he wants. Seeing this character become possibly the most depraved character of 2014 is an amazing journey, whether it is small things like stealing copper wire for money, or bigger things like sneaking into a shot up house, behind the yellow tape, to get a story.

      For me, this could be Gyllenhaal's best performance since Donnie Darko. It plays on the brink of sanity, being a fun, terrifying, beautiful mess, and instead of cleaning up that mess -  it rolls around it. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance of Lou Bloom is nail biting and frightening. Nightcrawler has unexpectedly become one of my favorite films this year. I knew I would like it, but had no idea I would love it.

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