Nightcrawler

According to a certain scientist, unsuccessful psychopaths fill prisons, while successful ones become bosses of multinational companies, industrial conglomerates, and respectable institutions. Lou is somewhere between these worlds. Without a formal education, but with high determination and an absolute absence of moral restraints and emotions. In the beginning, he is introduced as an absolute loser, but soon seizes an opportunity and starts his own business in the sale of videos, which journalists with ethical restraints cannot stomach. I cannot help but compare it to Fincher's successful drama Gone Girl, which, despite the director's undeniable craftsmanship, felt somewhat artificial to me, especially from an area where the topic has already been extensively explored in the past. I didn't believe in the story in Gone Girl, while Nightcrawler has an unpleasantly realistic undercurrent, and I never doubted for a moment that people like Lou are among us, waiting for their chance. Jake Gyllenhaal is a reliable actor and delivers exactly what his character requires. The direction is brisk and the camera works wonders. I did not regret my visit to the movie theater in the slightest. Perhaps only the script could have been a bit more restrained, as it is noticeable that Dan Gilroy wanted to depict his anti-hero in the most repulsive light possible, and the tools he uses for that purpose are somewhat direct. On the other hand, similar films often tend to partially sympathize with such a character, which fortunately does not apply in this case. Overall impression: 90%. (02/01/2015)

Neon LA at night vs. a phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal, who could convince a corpse that he can play almost any kind of character and emotional creation with utter brilliancy. The pacing is slower in both the plot and the formation of the protagonist's persona. Gradually, however, it gains steam and the escalating finale boldly ranks among the most thrilling moments of the year, and the whole thing is utterly unpredictable. (11/09/2015)

The emotions are about as warm as a winter morning. The characters without a personal story may evoke viewer antipathy, but the economical handling of characters who have sold out to ratings numbers works a treat because these stalkers remain something detached for most of us, coming to us through spicy TV shots, even in ordinary reality. Also, Gyllenhaal's sleazy character works so well that you don't really care which way you're supposed to view the protagonist, which emerges in the end as the main trump card of the creative narrative, and you sort of even accept the pre-credits finish at its mercy. 4 ½. (02/01/2015)

Nightcrawler was exactly what I was expecting it to be, which is basically the only complaint I can have. It was missing at least one moment of bigger surprise or shock. Basically, I thought that Gyllenhaal’s self-confident sociopath (all the good things that’ve been said about his performance are true) would go a little further in his quest for career advancement. It’s a critique of an awful era and the lack of morals, where only viewership numbers have value and ethics are pushed aside. “I will never want from you anything that I wouldn’t do myself.” Impressive, dark, captivating, but I think Lumet’s Network cuts deeper. 9/10 (12/20/2014)

An intimate thriller whose greatest asset is the perfect performance of the lead actor – we haven't had such an unreadable, dark character going on his own without firearms for a long time, and together with the dark atmosphere of nighttime, crime-ridden L.A., especially in the end, it brings the emotional experience of the story to the level of the best we could see in 2014. In the final analysis, the film feels more like a small intro into the sick soul of an obsessive careerist, and doesn't make much of an effort to link his immoral actions with the commentary on criminal justice (the ending almost feels like an ode to investigative "snooping"), but that doesn't detract from its quality. 80% (07/09/2015)