NIGHTCRAWLER (2014)

Film that depicts the endeavours of a man who becomes a freelance cameraman for a news network. 

Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Directed by: Dan Gilroy

Cinematographer: Robert Elswit

This is a film that is essentially an intense character study of one man Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is a man in search of work. He stumbles upon a car crash on a main road and gets out of his car to supposedly help (but I don't really know what his intentions are in the scene). It is here that he meets a man with a camera who films the car crash and the person getting dragged from her car. He then discovers what the mans intentions are for the film and that is to sell it to the highest bidding news company. 

As a highly driven, intelligent and business minded man Lou buys a camera and a police scanner and begins to track down incidents and try and film them for news companies.

The performance here from Gyllenhaal is one of the most intriguing and unusual performances I have ever seen from any actor. His character which even has some elements from Donnie Darko is so intense, but is seemingly normal. There are so many emotions thrown around by the performance that sometimes I couldn't help but smile at it. 

I have to say I can draw comparisons with Drive, however Drive is definitely darker in tone which is mainly due to Cliff Martinez's score. James Newton Howard is the composer and I think the music reflects Gyllenhaal's character quite well as the music fluctuates to say the least from upbeat to dark and intense beats. 

I have to say I really enjoyed this film, but I have to say it runs heavily on Gyllenhaal's shoulders as it is a touch patchy in my opinion. Without Gyllenhaal this would be a mediocre film, but with the help of him it gets brought well above average. The elements I love the most are the Cinematography, the last 15 minute (Car chase and ending) especially GYLLENHAAL.