NIGHTCRAWLER

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Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton
Running time: 117 minutes

What sort of news would you rather choose? A normal one about something more important like energy crisis or education? Or about Kim Kardashian's ass and Miley Cyrus twerking? It seems that in this economy, nobody values real news minus all the "spice" to increase the rating.

Then comes Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) , a drifter, freeloader, former thief who comes to hijack the American success story. Roams the streets of Los Angeles at night, he finds his true call, being a freelance video journalist. But to get there, he stole a bike to buy a camcorder. Lou lives by the fringe and he seize chances as he sees it.

Recording accidents and crime in night, he hopes to climb the ladder of the media industry by selling his footage to a local TV station where their ratings has slumped. They needed Lou to revamp their rating by broadcasting crime scenes or accidents. But what follows is bitter satire on journalism and job market.

Lou always stare, he rarely blinks as if he needed to capture anything with his eyes. His instinct grows as he realizes that he had the power to record things as it is, or to with hold important things for his own benefit. It comes with a price that will makes the audience thinks that Lou is the sithlord of citizen journalism.

It is dark, cynical and murky. It also reminded me of Ace in the hole (1951) with Kirk Douglas, also put the media industry in a not so romantic point of view. Nightcrawler is a dark comedy, makes you laugh and hiss at the same time. Jake shows that he is an actor worth to watch. After End of Watch and Source Code, his flexibility as an actor has already been proven. This time as Lou, he become the voice of darkness, sithlord of citizen journalism in the face of American dream.