Now before I pick apart Jake Gyllenhaal’s recent dark thriller, I’d first like to offer a bit of insight into myself and my own line of work—one which gives me license to actually critique the recently released "Nightcrawler." I’m Evan, Evan Madden, a student at the University of Toledo studying journalism and English. The last couple years of my educational career were spent in front of the lens as well as behind it, which has ultimately led me to procuring a position at a local television station as a multi-media journalist working, in fact, a night shift primarily over the weekends. The last six months I’ve been with the station, there’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve pretty much seen it all. In retrospect, it was what my boss had said to me prior to my first night on the job that sums it all up: “Remember, Evan. Nothing good happens on the weekend after midnight. Ever.”
On the brighter side of things, I can certainly say that no night on the job has ever been the same ole' boring thing—something to which I can certainly identify with Lou Bloom, Gyllenhaal’s character in the film. Some nights, it’s shootings; some nights, it's injury-accidents; and a whole hell of a lot of nights are strewn with structure fires. (FYI, Toledo, you may want to watch out for those darn stove-top flammable objects.) Regardless, coming into work at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, I certainly never know what to expect. In that aspect, I can sympathize with the rapid, random pace of news-related events and travesties that make up the film.
However…
I’m on payroll and fully employed with the news station, unlike Bloom, who for the most part of the film just happily wanders about the gritty underbelly of Los Angeles with his camera in hand. When I arrive on scene, camera in hand, it’s relatively similar to Nightcrawler in the sense that a fast-paced, shoot-first-ask-questions-later strategy is often adopted, but I carry a bit more professionalism because I’m actually representing a station, not running around like a headless chicken with a rolling camera as the amateur Bloom does throughout the film. No news station in its right mind would peddle cash for some Cloverfield-esque footage of some mangled remnants.
And allow me to elaborate on the movie’s “It bleeds, it leads” mantra.
Nope. Not even close. Although Los Angeles has a massive audience, all but dwarfing the viewing populace of the Greater Toledo area, there’s no gore in the news. Regardless of how ludicrous the on-scene footage I capture may be (and believe me, there have been many occasions), there’s no way, for the sake of common decency, the gore broadcast by Bloom’s camerawork in the movie would ever make air. For God’s sake, the man’s running through a blood strewn household with a camcorder, paying gruesome attention to multiple murders and the like—not only is that completely unethical from a broadcasting perspective, that’s just plain psychotic.
Which brings me to my final point.
*Spoiler Alert*
I’m not a sociopath, I’m not insane (although when 6 a.m. rolls around and I realize I’ve been counting ceiling tiles for hours on end, I may feel like I’m slipping slowly into madness), and most importantly, I’ve never done anything unlawful. The small collection of real-world nightcrawlers that make up the news industry are a soft-spoken, nocturnal bunch. Yeah, we slide through back alleys, quiet neighborhood streets, and the darkest corners of town, but we wouldn’t be caught dead moving around corpses or, God forbid, leading anyone into a traumatic scenario. Nightcrawling is nothing more than an incredibly interesting occupation and nowhere near a psychotic lifestyle.
