Why I Saw It: I kept hearing raves over Jake Gyllenhaal's performance.
Cast: Holy crap! I was flat-out floored by Jake Gyllenhaal in this. For anyone that thinks he is great in Brokeback Mountain or Jarhead or Prisoners, see this, because you'll have a new favorite. He plays such a weird, confident, effective, immoral, amoral character. At no point did I feel like I had any idea what was going on in his head. Within the span of a single sentence he would take me from laughing to chilled to the bone. Rene Russo is used well and Bill Paxton has a nice, very secondary role. Riz Ahmed is new to me and plays off Gyllenhaal well. But, this is all Gyllenhaal, even more so than Birdman is about Michael Keaton.
Plot: Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) is a con man who begins working in freelance video journalism. Nina (Russo) is the morning news director who he sends his videos to. Rick (Ahmed) is his craigslist-found assistant. It's quickly apparent that something isn't right about Lou. He is highly motivated and completely unscrupulous. The movie is all about how those two things come into play as he gets deeper into freelancing for the crime beat in L.A.. Regardless of your thoughts of the story, it is completely driven by Gyllenhaal. I cannot underscore that enough.
Elephant in the Room: How is Los Angeles used? I've never been to the city, so I can only guess, but this does an excellent job depicting the size, busy-ness, and, for a lack of a better word, grit of it. Would you forgive me for dusting off the old "it's a character in and of itself" description? It feels like those chose to shoot the movie there, not that it's set there because all the production companies are there.
To Sum Things Up:
It may not be my favorite movie of the year so far, but it is the one that hit me the hardest, and I don't mean emotionally. I was taken aback by by the performance, the beats, and the thematic and actual darkness. I needed time to digest it all. I can see this not being something for everyone. If you didn't like something like Drive, I wouldn't expect you to like this. Gyllenhaal makes it all worth it, regardless of your tastes though. If there's five better leading performances this year, then this is an exceptional year for movies.
Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend
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