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Nightcrawler Critical Analysis

In this critical analysis, I have chosen to explore the social, cultural and technological
elements of the US thriller Nightcrawler, released in 2014 and directed by Dan Gilroy. My
aim is to identify how the film represents Capitalism through the media in modern America,
how class and wealth defines social importance and how Nightcrawler shows these
attributes through certain styles and techniques. I will also explore the films overall directive
of unethical journalism, its desire to manipulate audiences, and the main characters
psychotic nature that represents America’s demand for injustice.

The film centers around a lonesome man names Lou Bloom who in the opening scene is
desperately trying to earn cash by stealing wire fencing from a construction site and being
caught by a police officer. He proceeds to assault him and steal his watch. He then goes on
to sell the wire fencing to a local scrapyard. We really get a sense of Lou’s desperation when
he asks for an unpaid internship at the scrapyard after being rejected a paid job which he
offers to start right away. However, on his way home he discovers a flaming car on the
freeway with two officers trying to pull a trapped woman from the vehicle. It is then that
the grounding for the plot takes place as he notices a man filming the scene and Lou learns
he sells footage of crime scenes and sells them to news stations. This sparks Lou’s interest
and he begins to slowly freelance his way through crime footage gathering in order to earn
money. However, he begins to learn how competitive this industry is, with each crime
becoming a competition of who can get there first. During Lou’s journey, we discover that
the Los Angeles news stations deem to be more interested in crimes that involve wealthy
white people being attacked or even killed by lower class individuals, and that footage of a
more graphic nature will spark the interest of the public, despite the wellbeing of the
families and friends associated with the victim. This is symbolized in the early stages of Lou’s
career as we see a wide shot of him sitting alone watching back his disturbing footage of a
man severely bleeding. Lou smiles and looks fascinated and excited about what he is seeing
which mimics the way in which many individuals also view violent and graphic scenes on
television and in movies. This hints upon the nature of people seeing violence as a success
and entertainment instead a criminal offence, as this is how we can clearly see Lou is
feeling. The mere factor that Lou and Nina (The director at KWLA) refer to the footage as a
‘’sale’ and Nina watching the footage whilst smiling and calling it “fantastic” highlights the
naivety of society believing that what they see on television is a form of entertainment and
not a real life crime in which someone has been injured and their life put in danger. Rizal
Yunianto describes the film with in these words “It tells an interesting story about a man
who raises from nobody to become a well-known freelance criminal reporter in Los Angeles.
He does everything that needs to be done in order to reach his goal, even if it is socially
unacceptable and dangerous to others.”

From the outset of this film, we can see that it will be heavily centered around illegal activity
in Los Angeles. The opening montage features elongated shots of different crimes
happening around the city. As all of these shots are featured at night it sets the premise that
the majority of the film will be shot at night, as this is when most crime happens. This is
contrasted with a yellow based lighting
that occurs in the scenes shot in the day
time. For example, in the establishing
shots of the outside of Lou’s house in the
early hours of the morning and evening
time is perfectly demonstrated by a soft
yellow haze. The rest of the daytime shots
are captured in extreme sunlight. E.g.
when Lou is at the beach, it almost seems
too bright, indicating that it is more
difficult to commit crime in broad daylight
and therefore it is done mainly at night.
Gilroy also effectively uses shadowing in order to convey a directive. For example in the
picture displayed, we can easily see that the Gilroy has used a shadow to highlight Lou’s
eyes in the colour red which typically symbolizes evil. This is also used with Lou’s car, as his
old car was white, and he eventually earns enough money through selling crime journalism
to buy a new one in the colour red. Which shows his mind has been corrupted by what he is
seeing while filming dead and injured bodies.

After meeting the character of Lou Bloom, we quickly learn that the nature of the character
and the ruthlessness of crime journalism go hand in hand. The opening scene teaches us
that Lou has a charming nature that can quickly turn nasty when his politeness towards the
police officer quickly turns to violence. He carries this charm throughout the film in order to
manipulate the different characters we meet throughout the film. This highlights his
sociopathic essence. Fachrial Rizqi Alfani quotes “Louis tends to exploit others and gives an
adverse impact to them, yet his mendacious, emotional, ambiguous, lack of empathy and
manipulative characteristic help him realize his goal. In addition, the writer mentions that
Louis already has a characteristic which refers to a psychopath in the beginning of the film”
The most prime example of this is the relationship he has with Nina. The dinner scene is
where we see the peak of Lou’s bizarre behavior when he openly suggests that Nina should
be intimate with him in order for him to continue selling him footage. He also states how
much research he has done into her life in order to further manipulate her into doing what
he asks. His calm and polite demeanor throughout this conversation brings light to his open
selfishness and lack of care for others that continues to the end of the film. When the food
arrives he immediately begins to eat whilst Nina appears
too shocked to move. This suggests he was won the conflict and gained power over her. It
also shows he is comfortable while she is evidently not. Another suggestion of his
sociopathic nature is the mere fact that he does not appear to have any friends of family. He
lives alone in a desolate, minuscule and empty apartment in a fairly lower class area which
proposes the idea that his loneliness has fueled his psychotic behavior and desperate desire
to be intimate with Nina. Lou also carries a monotone throughout the film, which suggests
he has carefully structured his thoughts, and has no desire to show any emotion in order to
maintain the façade that he has the upper hand in any situation, which also makes him
come across as arrogant, especially when it is paired with a beaming smile that defeats
anyone he is opposing.
In many of the establishing shots throughout this film, there is background audio that sets
each scene to create a certain atmosphere, and subtly determines what kind of area we are
present in. For example, in the short scene where Lou is leaving the house and entering his
car, we can hear dogs barking in the background which suggests that he is in a lower class
neighborhood, as the buildings are situated closer together and you can hear other people’s
activities. Another example is when Lou is sitting in a café waiting to meet Rick, there is
music playing through the speaker which also insinuates this is a common café rather than a
fancy restaurant. In the scene where Lou is sitting at the beach, we can immediately tell he
is at the famous Venice Beach because of the hip hop music playing out of a loud speaker in
the background which is typical and easy to determine.

The narrative context follows a strict linear sequence that is channeled by a slow and plot
building beginning that progressively features more and more action and twists until a huge
climactic ending. This is also seen through the character of Lou, as we gain more insight into
his sinister nature, which builds up to a final sociopathic act at the end. Kirk Boyle describes
this as “the ironic use of plot emphasizes the breech in convention: Nightcrawler darkly
reimages the Horatio Alger myth of the comic rise in fortunes of a lowly youth.”

In terms of social context, the film carries an overall theme of social injustice and how
capitalism in the media can be manipulative and corruptive. The beginning of the film
features Lou himself turning to petty crime in order to earn money in a city notoriously
known for a high crime rate, and ‘ghetto’ neighborhoods. Gylenhaal who plays Lou was born
in Los Angeles and has previously starred in a film called End Of Watch (2012) that also
centers around LA crime which indicates his knowledge and passion for how crime is both
managed and broadcast in his hometown. Through the character of Nina, we learn that the
news industry is extremely competitive and that news channels compete to show stories
that with entice the most viewership. This makes Lou’s job of finding the most interesting
cases even more important. As local crime goes, we understand that murders and organized
assault is what intrigues audiences the most. Nina even outright states that stories in which
destitute individuals unlawfully harm
the rich and wealthy. This proves that
the media influences the public into
thinking that crime is only fueled by
underprivilege and rejection from
society. With no regard for moral
justice, Nina and Lou collaborate in
providing audiences with graphic and
unwholesome footage to the public
claiming that “this is what people want
to see” which confirms the population’s
appetite for violent crime stories which
news production companies use to profit from. This is a social issue that not many people
necessarily are aware of, which is why this film effectively brings light to the way in which
we are being manipulated as audiences.
It is evident throughout this film that Giroy has paid very close attention to using shots in
order to create emphasis on certain areas of focus. For example, Gilroy has chosen to use
many facial closeups of primarily Lou in
order to use expressions as a form of
clarifying what emotions both Lou and
the audience are feeling. These are
lengthy shots that co-inside with
Gylenhaal’s exceptional acting
performance that perfectly captures how
the audience should react to the scene
that is taking place. As Lou is the
protagonist of the film, these shots also
pull the focus towards him, and describe the nature of his character. In the buildup to the
predominant action of the film, it is noticeable that the cuts in between shots
are much slower, and the camera hangs onto certain shots for slightly longer than average.
This reduces the pace of the film which is designed to contrast with towards the end of the
film where more action based drama unfolds and the cuts become much faster. This is
signified with a montage clip that gives us a short analysis of what has happened in a short
period of time, which in this case is Lou and Rick progressively becoming more and more
successful in building a range of crime footage, and earning money. After this, the shot
transitions begin to pick up, and eventually leads to an extremely fast paced car chase
scene.
Gilroy also uses lots of over the shoulder shots which stand out in this particular film as they
are present in almost every scene featuring a conversation or somebody looking at
something. A prime example is the scene in which Nina, Lou and some other characters are
watching the live news broadcast and we can clearly see Nina’s shoulder and hair. Gilroy
could have chosen to just use a framed shot of the television screen, but instead kept Nina’s
presence in order to make the audience feel as if they are watching from their own personal
perspective and feel as if they are a member of the room. This goes conjointly with another
of Gilroy’s decisions to use a narrow depth of field that also pulls the focus into the
predominant areas of the scene. Gilroy uses this in many points throughout the film but the
scene that stands out most is the scene where Lou is interviewing Rick for the position of
Camera Assistant and we can visibly see that Lou is sitting behind a large window but the
background is blurred. This paired with close ups of their faces draw attention to their facial
expressions, which really highlight Rick’s discomfort with the situation. An additional eye
catching premise is the pattern of shots used in the scenes featuring a conversation
between two characters. As well as using over shoulder shots, each scene follows a pattern
of where the camera goes. For example, in the dinner scene. The camera sequences
between a wide shot, followed by a continuance of shot reverse shots, and back to a wide.
This effectively comforts the audience, as a messy shot interlude would disorientate the
focal point and distracts from the dialogue that is driving the plot of an important scene.
Shot repetition is also seen as an establishing shot which determines where each setting for
a scene takes place. For example, each time a scene of Lou sitting on his sofa occurs, an
identical establishing shot of the outside of his house early in the morning is placed before
it. This symbolizes the repetition that Lou’s life becomes after he gains his freelance work,
but also highlights his nocturnal nature. Subject to mood an atmosphere, the music for this
carries through many scenes, and aims to control the audiences emotions in coherence with
what is happening in the storyline. When action is about to take place, the music builds
tension that pre determines the audience for what is about to happen. It also creates a
calmer atmosphere in places where we are to feel a certain way towards characters and
relate to their emotion.

In conclusion, I feel the film has carried some significant messages and portrayed them in
ways that are easy for the audience to understand, but carry a clever and deceiving storyline
that captures attention. The shots are intelligently thought out and have crafted a finely
shot sequence that brings close attention to both capitalism and corrupt media and a
threatening character that portrays the soul at the heart of the social issue. Although it
starts off slow, it maintains a level of interest until the final scene. The ending concludes our
knowledge of where Lou’s life will continue, however it slightly surprises audiences as the
penultimate scene we presume the police have caught on to the corrupt and sociopathic
attributes that Lou possesses and have decided to arrest him. However a scene designed to
demonstrate the future shows Lou has further developed his career and after the death of a
former crime journalist has formed his own small business. This has left premise for a sequel
but also leaves the audience surprised but satisfied to leave the story behind.

References:

Nightcrawler (2014) [film, DVD] Directed by Dan Gilroy] USA: Bold Films.

Yunianto, R (2017) Louis Bloom’s Defence Mechanisms in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler [online]
First Edition. Semarang. Diponegoro University.

Rizqi Alfani, F (2017) Analysis Of Louis Bloom’ Psychopath Symptoms in Nightcrawler Film
[online] First Edition. Jakarta. State Islamic University .

Boyle, K (2017) Three Ways of Looking at a Neoliberalist: Mobile Global Traffic in Cosmopolis
and Nightcrawler [online] Vol. 34, Taylor & Francis Group, LL C

End of Watch (2012) [film, DVD] Directed by David Ayer. USA: Exclusive Media.

Carthy, J (2016) “Nightcrawler” Film Analysis Available at:


http://www.mastermoviemaker.com/articles/nightcrawler-film-analysis

Khoshaba, D (2015) Nightcrawler’s Antihero Lou Bloom: Sociopath Par Excellence Available
at: http://www.psychologyineverydaylife.net/2015/02/26/nightcrawlers-antihero-lou-
bloom-sociopath-par-excellence/

Buchanan, K (2014) The Story Behind Nightcrawler’s Effed-Up Mexican-Resturant Scene


Available at: http://www.vulture.com/2014/11/nightcrawler-mexican-restaurant-scene-
explained.html

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