Sharp, dark and chilling

• Tittle :Nightcrawler
• Cast :Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed & Bill Paxton
• Direction :Dan Gilroy
• Genre :Drama
• Rating :****1/2
• Like :Script, editing and Jake Gyllenhaal
• Unlike :Hardly any

After ‘Gone Girl’ last week, ‘Nightcrawler’ is another shocker.

If ‘Gone ...’ dealt with duplicitous marriages, this one is about unscrupulous competition in journalism and is centred on street-smart Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) who by default becomes a nightcrawler (those in the underworld of Los Angeles crime journalism), and then goes great guns.

It all begins when Lou comes across a road accident at night, takes photos and tries to sell it to a news channel. Encouraged by initial success he repeats the act and develops a contact with news channel editor Nina (Renee Russo) whose channel gets a boost with his photographs.

Soon Lou becomes a familiar sight in the LA underworld which includes competitive journalists Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) and cop Linda (Anne Cussack) among others. Joe offers him a partnership but Lou refuses, feeling he will be used by his senior. Instead he hires greenhorn Ric (Riz Ahmed) on a daily wages basis. Soon they become a good team and the enterprising Lou soon sets up a company but has to deal with Ric’s constant “more salary” pleas, which soon become demands.

By now director Dan Gilroy has acquainted his audience with the different players in this crime game where journalists often cross the line and play detectives and cross swords with the cops. But Lou finds himself in two major relationships, one with Nina for selling his photos and the other with his ambitious aide Ric. But here we see Lou’s utter unscrupulousness; it’s a rat-eat-rat world with the winner taking all.

How far will Lou go? That’s the main question but along the way one gets enough of dope on the different cogs in this devious wheel and this is abetted by John Gilroy’s slick cutting and editing that gives the narrative an engrossing flow. How these seasoned pros keep crossing and uncrossing the lines to the extent that the lines disappear. Enter “grey areas” which is what their lives are all about.

Jake Gyllenhaal is already known for his acting prowess and here as a psychotic he has ample scope but rightly refrains from making a meal of it. He’s even made to look unattractive, ordinary --- a face in the crowd. Rene Russo, after a long absence, shows that she has lost none of her skills in an excellent cameo ably supported by Riz Ahmed as the greenhorn who gets too big for his boots. Bill Paxton and Ann Cussack have brief footages and are not found wanting.

But ‘Nightcrawler’ surely makes the viewer stand up and take note of Bob Dylan’s famous line “for the times they are a-changing.” It may not be elevating but it’s certainly thought-provoking and cinema buffs just cannot afford to miss it.