If You Want To Win The Lottery You've Got To Make The Money To Buy A Ticket

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Nightcrawler. Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as the well-spoken, yet wildly unsettling Louis Bloom is one of my favorites of this past year. It shares stylistic similarities with Drive so fans of that film will probably enjoy this one.

We're introduced to Bloom early in the story as he is trying to sell stolen copper to a junkyard. What jumped out at me was the manner in which he negotiated with the gruff foreman. He is a man seemingly with zero formal education. In place of college or other forms of higher learning Bloom has taught himself a variety of things via online courses. Every line he utters sounds as if it was ripped from an HR packet or inspirational poster. Once he stumbles upon the shady world of freelance video news reporting his warped business strategy kicks into high gear.

Armed with a questionable moral compass, a psychotic determination to succeed and a camera, Bloom begins his ascension to the top of Los Angeles' freelance news scene. He is relentless in the purist of his goals and does everything in his power to achieve them.

Gyllenhaal’s performance is chilling and captivating. I think this may be his finest work to date. -Soss