The New Classics: Nightcrawler
Tuesday, May 26, 2020 at 11:55AM 
About once a decade we get a film set in the world of television that serves not just as a satire but a warning, asking us to take a look at the glaring problems in the way Americans get their information. Titles like A Face in the Crowd (1957), Network (1976), and Broadcast News (1987). It’s clear to me that the film to take up this mantle for this last decade was Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler (2014).
The trend in these stories does not inspire optimism. If the 2010’s spat up Jake Gyllenhaal’s Lou Bloom to represent it, am I ever terrified to meet the standard-bearer for the 2020’s...
Each of these films center around a harbinger of doom who exploits the system to great success. One can chart our growing disillusionment through the fates of these men. Face in the Crowd must’ve seemed pitch black in its day, but it ends with demagogue Lonesome Rhodes vanquished after his true toxic nature is exposed on live TV, an idea that is positively quaint today. Network’s “Mad Prophet of the Airwaves” Howard Beale is also destroyed but for much more cynical reasons: his rantings affected corporate profits. Broadcast News is ostensibly the lightest of these but it dares to have William Hurt’s idiot TV savant Tom end up on top of the world, although it does dilute the sting of that by having Tom bring on ethical Jane as his producer. (The film also denies him a symbolic romantic victory with Jane).
Which brings us to Lou Bloom. Lou doesn’t just succeed. He triumphs. Unequivocally. Those who opposed him are either dead or persuaded by his success to support him.
And more so than these other characters, Lou Bloom puts us, the audience, on the hook. Having a Lonesome Rhodes or Howard Beale indicts the gullible masses for being swayed by such figures but it also allows viewers a certain degree of distance. “I wouldn’t be taken in by these charlatans”, we think. Plus these men are aberrations. We might comfort ourselves that without them the system would basically function.
In Nightcrawler everything is irretrievably rotten from the start, allowing the likes of Lou Bloom to thrive like a case of black mold behind the evening news’ cityscape backdrop. He only ended up a stringer, selling grisly and racially inflammatory crime scene footage, because that’s what paid. It’s our bloodlust and racism driving that demand. Lou is ambition untethered. If Rene Russo’s TV producer said she needed heartwarming stories of unlikely friendships between animals, Lou would be breaking into the zoo to toss penguins into the tiger cage. But what Nina says is:
“Think of our news cast as a screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut.”
Lou isn’t lying when he calls himself a quick learner.
Which is not to say it’s all the system’s fault. Bloom is a sociopathic ambition vampire with hints of deep perversion churning below the grinning skeleton surface. His crimes cover everything from broken traffic laws to manslaughter. But it’s his threat to our institutions that is insidious and ultimately most frightening. It’s the kind of incremental corruption that Broadcast News identified in Albert Brooks’ famous tirade against Hurt’s character:
He will just bit by little bit lower our standards where they are important. Just a tiny little bit.
Scene: At the scene of a shooting
Nightcrawler pinpoints and isolates one such lowering of standards. When Bloom is first at the scene of a shooting at the home of a lower class family. He first sneaks into the house without permission while the victims are distracted, then, in a small but crucial moment, shifts one family photo on the fridge to be nearer to a bullet hole, creating the kind of punchy, obvious symbolism that is perfect for the fleeting attention span of the evening news.
Later Nina coos over the footage “That’s a great piece of tape!” and Gilroy has succeeded in making us disgusted at the ethical transgression. It’s a subtle act one break as the question becomes how far will Lou push the boundaries in pursuit of success. We know it won’t stop there, and sure enough, Lou’s manipulation quickly escalates to arranging dead bodies to orchestrating shootouts between cops and killers.
I’ve thought of that one shifted photo countless times since 2014. Nightcrawler shows how so many of our ethical rules aren’t rules so much as norms. They exist so long as everyone agrees they do, and as soon as one bad actor tromps over these invisible barriers we realize too late that the systems we thought were in place to punish such actions have atrophied from disuse or never existed in the first place. We end up watching as the Lou Blooms flourish while waiting for a moral comeuppance that never arrives.
Previously on Season 2 of "The New Classics"
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Reader Comments (22)
Jake Gyllenhaal's non-nomination (I hate the word "snubbed") was outrageous and STILL rankles. In fact, it was so hard for me to accept that for a couple of weeks after the nominations were announced I found myself still listing him as my choice to win and had to be reminded that he wasn't even nominated! Rene Russo is also superb. The film should have been nominated for Best Film, and it was even a weak year in 2014, so there was no excuse.
Agreed on all counts.
The best actor snubs that year burn as brightly as any in recent memory. Not just Gyllenhaal but Fiennes, Oyelowo, and for my money Channing Tatum too. I think I would only keep Keaton from their list. (And I respect Carell's performance more than most)
Riz Ahmed for supporting was my shot in the dark. I really thought both he and Jake were going to be left-field surprises on nomination morning. Instead, we got "The Judge."
Hey don't forget Riz Ahmed in the snubbed category, but at least he got a vibrant career out of it! I thought this movie was terrific, and so was this write up.
A mixture of all of the above comments - Jake, Rene and Riz were done so wrong by the voters - 2014 was so weird (a variety of great performances in contention from highly visible films and so many were ignored on Oscar morning).
Russo was also a snub.She's my winner.
zig: Yeah, ugh. The Judge is the WORST Big 8 nominee of the 2010s. No question. That airport sight gag alone is...irredeemably heinous. And insane to think about. The director, the producer AND the editor didn't speak up and say that "um, guys, are you sure this five second stretch doesn't make the movie insanely creepy?"
My number 1 movie of 2014. So good and depressingly timely. Should've been up for Picture, Director, Actor, and Supporting Actress. At least, thankfully, it was in the mix for Screenplay.
It's a solid thriller but quite heavy-handed. I think the 50s cynical media film it better resembles is ACE IN THE HOLE.
Jonathan -
I thought about Ace in the Hole when writing this. You are correct they feel like close spiritual cousins, but I was thinking specifically of the lineage of films about television, so I went with A Face in the Crowd.
I wouldn't disagree that Nightcrawler is a bit heavy-handed at times but then so is Network, or Ace in the Hole. Greatness and perfection seldom go hand in hand, ya know what I mean?.
Gylenhaal should have gotten an Oscar nomination for this performance he is not only very effective but does follows the Oscar bait rules of making himself look ugly
This is Jake Gylenhaal's best performance: potent, convincing, creepy. He has true authority here and holds the screen. He's an actor who constantly challenges himself; the risk he took in assuming this role pays off superbly.
In a lot of (good) ways, Gyllenhaal here reminded me of Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success.
Gyllenhaal was robbed of a nod that year. He should've been nominated instead of Eddie Redmayne who has become an insufferable twat after "stealing" the Oscar.
I thought he was insufferable before the Oscar.
Gylenhaal is superb and Russo is very good too, but maybe the movie is too depresing for Oscar voters. Redmayne was the obvoius winner, for just an ok performance in a so so movie.
JAKE SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED. HECK HE SHOULD HAVE WON!
Thanks for this one. This is one of my favorite movies. Jake, Riz, Renee ... all fantastic. The screenplay is so slick and dirty. It's a deeply disturbing movie - tinges of Medium Cool and Ace in the Hole - that clearly doesn't care that anyone thinks it is disturbing.
And to think "Nightcrawler" was nominated in original screenplay ONLY because "Whiplash" was moved to adapted. Gyllenhaal, Fiennes and Keaton gave by far the best male performances in lead actor. To think that none of them won and only one was nominated... Ugh!
What is this Thing with Jake Gyllenhaal and tthe Academy? Jake was nominated for Globe and/or for BAFTA many times more and not one Nomination in Lead Actor? Nightcrawler was indeed a crime. The Fim is not perfect, but Gyllenhaal was creapy as hell and lose weight and goes beyond his Limits in this role. The Year after Southpow - again Nothing. 2 Years later "Stronger" again Nothing. Has Leonardo DiCaprio done this Roles, he would be Always nominated I think. Why he has no Reputation in Hollywood? I think he is the most versatile Actor in Hollywood, after Day-Lewis and Bale. And DayLewis had quit, so take notice AMPAS! Please! He deserves it! I am glad, he was close to win the Oscar for his heartbreaking turn in Brokebck Mountain, but it was a Co.-Lead and NOT supporting. But glad he was nominated. They try to make him happen in supporting, too in Prisoners. Has he only a Chance there? He is a great Leading man. He and Jessica Chastain for me are so underrated, ist criminal
@ Patrick, Brokeback Mountain's storytelling relegates his arc to supporting. To be truly co-lead his character needs an inner life out of reacting to Heath Ledger's choices.
He showed how cruel and cynical the world of the media can be. In the pursuit of sensation and recognition, a journalist can cross legal boundaries, violate ethical and moral norms, manipulate people and situations to achieve the desired outcome. Each of us has heard about photojournalists willing to stand by and not intervene in order to capture a "good shot," even when a terrible crime is taking place, all for the sake of prestigious awards. And this really exists; during my training, I read hundreds of stories about people breaking the law. I believe I'm not the only one. Even when I turned to the https://essays.edubirdie.com/law-essay-writing they showed me the actions people can take in pursuit of their goals. Of course, there are people who don't realize what led them to break the law. But here, Lou clearly knows what drives him, and Jake Gyllenhaal portrayed it perfectly. This film definitely deserves a spot in the top ten films of the year.