10 Gripping Neo-Noirs You Must See Before You Die
7. Nightcrawler
Despite sounding like a standalone outing for the X-Men's second-best blue mutant, Nightcrawler is a withering critique of an unscrupulous media industry and our insatiable desire to consume sensationalist news - which is altogether less fun.
Jake Gyllenhaal, in one of his finest performances as the worst bastard imaginable, plays Lou Bloom, a freelance photojournalist with nary a shred of decency or compassion. Tracking violent crimes and fatal tragedies during the night, he records their aftermaths and sells them to a local news station whose morning director, concerned over declining viewing figures, pushes for increasingly dramatic and horrifying footage. Lou eventually turns to tampering with crime scenes in order to make his footage more impactful and even sabotages a rival journalist's vehicle, resulting in a near-fatal crash which he then capitalises on.
Taking place almost entirely under the grimy streetlights of night-time Los Angeles and in dimly-lit newsrooms, the world of Nightcrawler is murky and foul. Lou, devoid of any character arc, is almost refreshing in how utterly despicable he is. Snake-like and manipulative, and driven entirely by sociopathic greed, he holds the audience hostage on a journey to the darkest depths of human depravity.