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Theatrical poster for "Nightcrawler", directed by Dan Gilroy and starred by Jake Gyllenhaal (photo) and Rene Russo.
(photo credits: Open Road Films) |
Directed by: Dan Gilroy (directorial debut).
Produced by: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Litvak, David Lancaster, Jennifer Fox and Tony Gilroy (Tony is Dan's brother; known by directing "Michael Clayton" and "The Bourne Legacy").
Written by: Dan Gilroy.
Main Cast:
- Jake Gyllenhaal -------- Louis Bloom (Lou)
- Rene Russo ----------- Nina Romina
- Bill Paxton ------------- Joe Loder
- Riz Ahmed ------------- Rick
- Carolyn Gilroy -------- Jenny
- Kevin Rahm ---------- Frank Kruse
- Ann Cusack ---------- Linda
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Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo in scene of "Nightcrawler". They portray, respectively, Lou
and Nina. (photo credits: Open Road Films) |
Release Date: September 5, 2014 (TIFF/Canada) / October 31, 2014 (USA) / December 18, 2014 (Brazil)
Running Time: 117 min.
Budget / Box office: $8.5 million / $50.3 million (Box office success).
Plot summary: Los Angeles, California. The thief Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal, great in Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain), known as Lou, has been caught stealing from a L.A. construction site by a security guard. To get rid of the crime, Lou attacks the guard, steals the watch and runs away with the material. After selling this material, Lou asks for a job, but the construction supervisor tells him he doesn't hire thieves.
While driving home, Lou sees a car crash on the middle of the road... and the freelance photojournalists arrive and record two police officers pulling a wounded woman from the crash. One of these photojournalists, Joe Loder (Bill Paxton, of Twister), tells Lou that they sell their footage to local news stations.
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Jake Gyllenhaal (with a recording camera) as Lou Bloom.
(photo credits: Open Road Films) |
Inspired, Lou steals a bike and trades it for a recording camera and a police radio scanner. After two failed attempts, he records a fatal carjacking and sells it to KWLA (channel 6). The morning news director, Nina Romina (Rene Russo), tells him the station is interested in footage of graphic/violent incidents (such as accidents involving cars, buses, trains, planes, etc.) in influent areas. And for the job to be more efficient and with more impact, Lou hires an assistant, Rick (Riz Ahmed), a young man desperate for money, and begins tampering crime scenes. In one of them, he moves a body. As Lou's work gains attention, he buys better equipment and a faster car.
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Rene Russo (center) in scene of Nightcrawler.
Rene, as always, doesn't lose her elegance!!!
(photo credits: Open Road Films) |
Then, Lou and Nina go to a Mexican restaurant, talking about his sucess as a reporter. But things go wrong when he threatens her to end her business unless she has sex with him. And her job depend on his footage. Nina agrees hesitantly.
The following day, Lou turns down an offer from Loder, who beats him in a plane crash story in Foothill, and Nina scolded her job partner (Lou), explaining him to get better footage! To give Loder the payback, Lou sabotaged his van, leaving him injured.
Later, Lou and Rick arrive before the police at a home invasion in Granada Hills, and Lou records the shooters leaving with their SUV. Result: Nina is so anxious with this story.... in return, Lou requests more public credit and money.
And the climax begins when detective Frontieri (Michael Hyatt) doubts Lou about the home invasion footage, and he gives his edited version, cutting out the shooters' footage parts. Posterior to that, he and Rick follow the shooters to a more crowded area, and then, Lou's assistant claims half of the money of the initial request, menacing to tell the police about Lou's crimes, and he admits.
The shooters enter at the restaurant, and Lou phones the police. They shoot each other, and one of the suspects is killed while the other escapes with the SUV. And soon after the shooter's SUV crashes, Lou persuades Rick to film him, saying he's dead, but in reality it was contrary: the shooter was alive; and shoots Rick through the glass and tries to flee. But Lou's assistant is dead by the police. So Lou said to Rick he couldn't work with someone who has more advantage than him.
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Rene as Nina Romina. Chic as always!
(photo credits: Open Road Films) |
The ending of Nightcrawler is when Nina was amazed with Lou's final footage involving Rick, and she expresses her devotion by him. But the news team found out that the home invasion didn't work out; and Nina refused to report the information to maximize the impact. Result: The police tries to confiscate the evidence, but Nina defend the right to reserve it.
And Lou hires a team of freelancers and interns, and buys new vans to grow his business.
Fun facts about the movie:
- Nina Romina was specially written for Rene Russo, his wife in real life. For Gilroy, Nina was described as "hard-nosed corporate malicious woman". And Russo brought a sense of vulnerability to the character.
- Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo had a very great chemistry in scene; and they would work again in Velvet Buzzsaw (also directed by Dan Gilroy) this year, premiering October 26, on Netflix.
- Jake had his own idea of losing 20 pounds for this movie. He visualized Lou as a hungry coyote.
- Like Donnie Darko (2001) and Prisoners (2013), Jake Gyllenhaal blinked rarely in Nightcrawler. And Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies of Jake.
- And it was also Dan Gilroy's directorial debut after years producing movies. Some of them were starred by Rene Russo, such as Freejack (1992) and Two for the Money (2005).
Critical reception:
- IMDB: 7,9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (excellent; 244 reviews).
- Metascore: 76/100
- Cinemascore: B - (A+ to F).
Awards:
Rene won two awards for this movie:
- San Diego Films Critics Society - Best Supporting Actress; and
- Saturn Awards - Best Supporting Actress.
Next week, I'll bring out some details about Rene's character in Nightcrawler, Nina Romina... it's one of my favorite characters of her entire career!
hope u enjoy it.
love u guys.
xoxoxo
ME
