Movie Review: Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal is a fucking mad man. His outstanding, tour de force performance in Nightcrawler will be talked about for ages and will further reinforce this point. We’ve seen traces of brilliance throughout his career [Brokeback Mountain, End of Watch, Prisoners], and we all know Gyllenhaal is at his best playing weirdoes [Donnie Darko, Zodiac, Enemy] and not the pretty boy leading man stuff he’s dabbled with in the past [Prince of Persia…get outta here]. Now we’ve finally been blessed with Jake going full on uber creep/psycho with Nightcrawler, in what is easily the most startling and mesmerizing performance of his career.

Gyllenhaal stars as Louis Bloom, a reclusive conman who roams the streets of Los Angeles trying to scrape out a living, applying for odd jobs here and there, stealing and occasionally assaulting/robbing people. You know, the usual. After witnessing a fiery accident on the freeway one evening and seeing a pair of opportunistic freelance news videographers record the scene, Bloom finally finds his niche in life. Gyllenhaal’s character is a sociopath who lives alone, despises people and but simultaneously yearns for success and validation. Imagine the Grinch with Asperger’s and a violent streak and you’ll start to see the picture. Nightcrawler does two things and does them both rather well, it showcases the seedy seed of the cutthroat local news scene, and is a fascinating character study unlike anything we’ve seen since Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Ruthless, greedy, conniving misanthropes who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, Louis Bloom and Daniel Plainview are veritable peas in a pod, just as Gyllenhaal’s all-encompassing performance is reminiscent of Daniel Day-Lewis’ Oscar winning role.

First time director Dan Gilroy has crafted a wicked character piece about an utterly wicked individual, up there with Taxi Driver and American Psycho. He’s also put together one hell of an ode to Los Angeles. Yes, we’ve got Hollywood in our backyards and all, but very few films seem to capture the LA vibe the way Nightcrawler does [see: Collateral, Training Day, etc]. Gilroy is a longtime screenwriter who also wrote Nightcrawler’s script, and he maneuvers the camera in such way that proves he knows the ins and outs of this story like the back of his hand. There are dozens of knuckle gripping moments in this film, along with a wild chase scene at the end that blows all that overdone Fast And The Furious stuff away, which makes Nightcrawler one of the weirdest and most exciting films of the year. Gyllenhaal’s performance is worth the admission price alone, good thing the rest of the movie is pretty rad itself.

Movie Review: Enemy

Enemy, the new (old) film from Prisoners mastermind Denis Villeneuve, is undoubtedly one of the most head scratchily, perplexing films I've ever seen. A film so opaque and puzzling, I could not stop thinking about it for days afterward.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Adam...and Anthony, and his performance as both dudes (well...) is nothing short of amazing. Adam is a neurotic History professor. He's disheveled, lives in a spartan/dingy apartment and has a smoking hot girlfriend (the oh so wonderful Melanie Laurent). His life consists of lectures, grading papers, drinking wine and having sex. One day, out of the friggin blue, a coworker randomly suggests Adam check out a certain film that might lift his dreary spirits a tad. Adam goes to the local video store, watches the flick and is startled to learn that one of the actors in the movie looks exactly like him. This is Anthony. Anthony is an aspiring actor. He's a suave fellow who wears nice suits, rides a motorcycle, and has a beautiful pregnant wife (Sarah Gadon). Adam becomes obsessed with meeting Anthony and eventually tracks him down. When the two eventually meet, that's when shit really goes off into Twilight Zone land. 

Enemy was actually filmed before Prisoners, but it's release was delayed until recently. Like Prisoners, Gyllenhaal's performance is absolutely riveting. He successfully creates two distinct characters in this film, even if they are exact duplicates of each other. His mannerism for Adam (his posture, his walk, his tone of voice) are completely different than Anthony's. When the two characters interact with one another, it boggles the mind at how good Gyllenhaal is onscreen. Melanie Laurent and Sarah Gadon play different variations of the same woman also. Both are beautiful blonde companions to Gyllenhaal's Adam/Anthony combo. Laurent's character is more aggressive and her nude body appears seductive while Gadon's pregnant wife is worrisome and her nudity showcases her vulnerability. The atmosphere in the film is creepy, awash in a hazy yellow/rustic tone, and Villeneuve successfully drags the viewer into the paranoid, oddball cinematic reality he's created.

So now...the weird stuff. I suffer from arachnophobia, aka I'm deathly afraid of, well you know. So much so that I'm getting all squirmy just thinking about em'. With that in mind, any discussion of Enemy must mention it's weird and totally disgusting obsession with spiders (barf). From the opening scene to the film's now infamous final shot, this film is completely engulfed in spider imagery and metaphors. Some people might not understand what the hell is going on throughout the movie and I know the fact that I had my hands covering my eyes during some crucial  points ( paralyzed w/ fear...remember?) didn't help my understanding either, but after much deliberation and some online research, I think I've pieced the film together fairly well. Anyone who is into David Lynch and Fincher films just might love this movie. Other folks will probably punch their screens asking "WTF did I just watch?"




***SPOILERS***
If you watched Enemy and your brain turned into scrambled eggs, don't worry. Chris Stuckmann has an in-depth explanation of the film HERE.  

Movie Review: Prisoners

Prisoners is easily one of the most jarring films in recent memory. I'm talking heart racing, fist clinching, pants shitting film making at it's best/most excruciating. I was not prepared for director Denis Villeneuve's methodically dark thriller and left the theater feeling gutted. It was only after a second viewing that I could fully digest and appreciate this gargantuan, labyrinth of a film.

Gargantuan is right. With a run time of 153 minutes and laced with some of the gnarliest (graphic/disturbing) content imaginable, Prisoners feels like fucking Gone With Wind...from hell. The film centers on a pair of rural Pennsylvania families whose two young daughters are kidnapped on Thanksgiving. The turmoil these families endure and how they react under such hellish circumstances make up the emotional core of the film. The subsequent police investigation and the white knuckle cat and mouse game with multiple suspects that ensues provides the thrills.

Hugh Jackman plays a desperate father hellbent on finding his child. Paul Dano is superb as the mentally unstable public enemy #1 suspect in question, while Viola Davis and Melissa Leo are both heartbreaking and mystifying as wounded mothers/aunties. Villeneuve's cast is basically all around awesome, but Jake Gyllenhaal's take as Detective Loki is easily the standout performance of the film. Loki (yes that's his name) is a lone wolf detective with a checkered past and a spectacular fucking haircut that becomes the film's anchor when all the gruesome shit starts to hit the fan. Yes, the anti-social SVU investigator with neck tattoos is the lone voice of reason in the sick sad world of Prisoners. That's how fucked up things get in this flick. Jackman screams and gets nuts like Michael Keaton in Batman, Dano gazes with lifeless doll's eyes and Gyllenhaal is jumping fences and twitching like Spider-Man with PTSD . Oh, and everyone cries. A lot.

Although bleak in content, Prisoners' is visually, an absolutely gorgeous film to behold. Shot by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, A Beautiful Mind, No Country For Old Men, Jarhead, The Assassination of Jesse James..., Skyfall) every frame onscreen is a masterwork. The cold Northeastern landscape almost comes to life, with danger lurking behind every rain soaked tree branch. Deakins' visuals, coupled with Johan Johansson's minimalist score (think uber minimal, like listening to yourself breath in a dark closet...with snakes) creates Prisoners' legitimately haunting atmosphere. Hats off to director Denis Villenueve for assembling such amazing talents to pull this thing off. Also, his use of long takes and subdued pacing raises the tension meter by 1000%. When shit actually happens and the utter silence (aside from mouth breathers like me in the theater) is broken, it's down right electrifying. I mean Jesus, the "car scene" is worth the price of admission alone.

Make no mistake about it, Prisoners is a dark and morbid film. I'm not even talking about the kidnapping stuff either. There are so many tragic themes brought up in this movie, it plays out like a twisted philosophy lecture. What would you do to save your child's life? Terrence Howard's character woefully claims that he would die for his daughter...but what if that's not enough? In extreme circumstances, do the ends justify the means? Vigilantism vs law and order, eye for an eye type stuff. Struggles with faith, hope and utter despair. It's a technically dazzling film with amazing actors and the most spellbinding imagery since The Place Beyond The Pines, but be warned, Prisoners is not an entertaining fun night out at the movies. It has the fly on the wall procedural craft of Zodiac, and the gory shell shock effect of Seven. It's the craziest damn Law & Order: SVU you could imagine and is one of the best films of 2013 thus far.