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[SCREAMING]
[GLASS SHATTERING]
Few ideas have been glorified more than that
of the American dream, that you can accomplish anything
with enough hard work and perseverance.
But for some characters, that earworm
becomes a noise so loud it deafens every bit of decency
within them.
Released in 2014, Nightcrawler was written and directed
by Dan Gilroy, who had previously
worked as a screenwriter penning the Bourne Legacy and The Fall.
He had originally wanted to make a film about famed photographer
Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, an infamous crime scene
photographer whose prominence rose in 1930s New York.
But as time passed and Gilroy was
unable to find the right angle, he
discovered the world of stringers.
Also known as nightcrawlers, stringers
are more or less freelance journalists often
working within the field of photography or videography.
Gilroy thought that this was the modern interpretation
of Weegee, someone who followed emergency
services, like the police or fire department,
in order to get the first stab at a grisly photo
with an uncompromised lens on humanity.
He's dead.
Get this shot.
While Gilroy had the shape of his story,
he knew he needed a backbone other than plot
to carry it through.
That's when Gilroy decided to focus
not on the traditional lead character but instead
an anti-hero.
While an anti-hero can still be our main character,
they often lack the heroic qualities of your typical hero.
But Gilroy knew that if done correctly,
he'd have a character that not only served
as the focal point of the story but also one
that held a mirror up to the viewer, which is where
Lou Bloom comes into existence.
When I say that I want these things,
I mean that I want them.
And I don't want to have to ask again.
Played perfectly flawed by Jake Gyllenhaal,
we first meet Bloom trespassing on private property,
stealing metal, assaulting a guard, then hocking
said stolen metal while wearing the watch of the guard who
confronted him.
It is expert character shorthand in mere moments.
Within this quick opening, we learn so much about Bloom.
Firstly and most simply, he's a criminal.
We see Bloom doesn't believe the laws apply to him.
Much like the opening to The Matrix,
it is almost a short film unto itself
that shows us a main character and gives us
just enough mystery to entice us into their world.
You ever have that feeling where you're not sure
if you're awake or still dreaming?
As the movie ratchets along its anxiety-inducing pace,
we begin to understand that Nightcrawler
is a movie about cold calculations.
The plot itself is bare-bones noir.
A criminal uses their loose morals
to do what most can't or won't in order
to rise in power and worth.
When Bloom first stumbles upon a group of stringers
photographing a violent car accident,
he learns there's money to be made here
and makes another cold calculation.
He'll sell them fear and violence.
And he's more than willing to bend the violence to his wants.
That coldness and detachment is one of Bloom's most
terrifying traits.
When he realizes he needs a camera in order
to record footage, he simply steals a bicycle
and sells it for video equipment.
When he realizes the bloodier the better,
he alters crime scenes in order to get the shot he wants.
Unlike most villains, Bloom isn't
drawn to violence or crime.
It is simply a means to an end.
That philosophy also applies to the people in his life.
Friends don't pressure friends to sleep with them.
A friend is a gift you give yourself.
Nightcrawler has few auxiliary characters.
Renee Russo as news producer Nina Romina,
Riz Ahmed as Bloom's first and sole employee, Rick,
and Bill Paxton as established stringer, Joe Loder.
But in the mind of Bloom, they only
exist to usher his wants along.
Loder is there to show Bloom how the gig economy works.
Rick is supposed to get them to the work more quickly.
And Romina is supposed to buy the work.
This is very much a "work your own hours,
charge surge rates for more violent footage,
and negotiate the top buyers" sort of job.
What Bloom does for the stringer's profession
is attempt to move it along from a ragtag operation of night owl
ambulance chasers to a more prim and proper service.
And the terrifying thing is by the end of the movie,
he accomplishes just that.
It is my hope that through hard work and commitment,
you will continue to pursue your career
goals as full-time employees of Video Production News.
Before he can get there, though, we
see another horrific trait in his steadfastness at all costs.
There is not one but two moments where
he watches a friend die while he calmly holds a camera up
to shocked eyes.
Even when they're dying, Bloom is still
trying to squeeze everything he can from them.
And while you could argue Loder lives, the fact remains,
Bloom tampered with his van.
With Rick, Bloom clearly tricks him
to approach an armed criminal, knowing the outcome beforehand.
As Rick lies dying, Bloom tells him--
I can't jeopardize my company's success
to retain an untrustworthy employee.
The most terrifying aspect of these overt attacks
is how goal-oriented they are.
Neither of these moments are fueled
by aggression or emotion.
In both cases, Bloom sees each as an obstacle
to him achieving his goals.
It's the same calculation we saw when stealing the metal.
These things are in his way.
He could injure or kill both to remove them,
so he'll remove them.
The end goal of all these acts of violence reduced
to basic problem solving is what Gilroy and Gyllenhaal
wanted to explore.
When interviewed for IndieWire, the screenwriter and director
stated--
He's a hyper-capitalist.
And capitalism is a religion.
It's a religion that gives him sanity
and which ultimately drives him insane
and pushes him over the edge.
In this quote, Gilroy is clearly trying
to make a statement on the lengths people will go in order
to accomplish their goals.
"It's a system so tied into our everyday lives
that the acts of purchase, consume,
and repeat are as ordinary as breathing."
And we have to give credit to Gyllenhaal for bringing
this character to life.
When Gilroy initially told Gyllenhaal
that he saw Bloom as a starved coyote,
the actor took on himself to lose over 30 pounds
before shooting in order to have a literal starved physique.
Last year, I was eating nothing, preparing for this movie.
So now I'm just psyched because I'm just eating and stuff so--
Gyllenhaal imbues bloom with small physical tics
like his sullen smile or the way he quickly pulls his hair back
that gives the character a real sense of life.
He has made a career bouncing between offbeat roles
like Donnie Darko and more mainstream work like Mysterio.
But through them all, his relatability
always shines through.
There's an approachability that immediately disarms you.
When we're told at the end of the movie--
I will never ask you to do anything
that I wouldn't do myself.
Coming from Gyllenhaal, it would be reassuring.
Having sat with Bloom for the last two hours,
it's terrifying because we know there's nothing he wouldn't do.
Lou Bloom is a borderline sociopath fueled by capitalism.
But maybe the most frightening aspect of the character
is that he is himself a byproduct.
Without Romina demanding more eye-grabbing headlines,
the deaths left in Bloom's wake would never have happened.
And without the public's short attention span
that only focuses on eye-grabbing headlines,
Romina would never have demanded the shock to begin with.
Bloom remains a cautionary example
of what happens when you buy into the lie
that you are owed something, when our starvation for success
begins to eat itself.
So what do you think?
Is there another villain who has reflected
the dark side of the American dream as much as Bloom?
Let us know down in the comments.
And as always, thank you for watching Nerdstalgic.