Essential Noir Films: Mike Epifani on NIGHTCRAWLER
NIGHTCRAWLER (2014) is an essential neo-noir, a darkly gripping story set in deep-night Los Angeles that centers around a morally devoid, vehemently masculine figure. His pursuit — to find a reliable path that satisfies both his primal desires and existential sense of success — leads the audience down a windy, unrelenting road that picks up suddenly and ends even more abruptly. It was written and directed by Dan Gilroy and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, who gave an incredible performance, deftly flipping from disturbed but understandably desperate artist to skin-crawling monster believably and without warning.
What’s probably the most strikingly noir component of NIGHTCRAWLER is the strong usage of nighttime, shadows, and darkness throughout the piece. Often, it feels like Gyllenhaal’s character is driving his car wildly into the black, like he’s closing his eyes and letting the darkness take the wheel. Wherever that darkness spits him out, he’s there in the realest sense of the term, willing to dive into whatever shadowy, largely-hidden pocket of Los Angeles he crawls into the light long enough to see — and film. He doesn’t need to have a cigarette in his mouth, because the mysterious smokiness drifts perpetually in front of the lens, leaving us to regularly wonder what it is we’re watching, and why we don’t want to stop.
The movie brilliantly mirrors the knee-jerk awe that comes over us when a car crash opens the local news, only we’re witnessing the type of person it takes to go out every night in order to instill that awe every morning.
You have the gun violence aspect, the male violence aspect, the femme fatale. But it’s the shadows of NIGHTCRAWLER that really scream noir, that suck you into a thick fog that lingers long after the credits roll.
See this neo-noir thriller. It beckons you into the shadows, and you can’t help but accept the invitation. It’s streaming on Netflix.
And, while we’re on the subject, I just read that Dan Gilroy has a project lined up with Netflix, and it’s starring Jake Gyllenhaal. I’m excited.
