Nightcrawler.

The strength of this movie is in the star performance from Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis Bloom, a character that is so very disturbing that’s he’s impossible to like. Lou Bloom earns his living by being in the wrong place at the right time. A single-minded stringer that will go the extra mile and beyond to get what he wants. Motivated by money he learns very quickly how to exploit a local news station. 

When we first come across Lou I suppose you could describe him as a ‘chancer’ that is someone that can utilise a situation to enrich his own ends. Armed with only his motor mouth he witnesses a freelance camera crew, led by Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), filming a near fatal car crash. Questioning Loder he finds out there is money to be made getting to a ‘disaster scene’ before any other news hounds get there and selling the resulting video footage to the highest bidder for broadcast on the early morning news, “If it bleeds it leads” Loder tells him.  Trading a stolen racing bicycle for a camcorder and a radio scanner, Bloom films the bloody aftermath of a car jacking. Offering it to Nina Romina, a Los Angeles morning news director, who agrees to purchase his recording and the story headlines the following morning broadcast. She recognises his fortitude and encourages him to continue to spend his nights trawling the police airwaves to get footage. She explains that the material must include violent incidents that referable take place in affluent neighbourhoods, explaining that this type of material can increase the stations ratings. Hiring Rick (the excellent British actor Riz Ahmed[1]) as a rather naïve assistant on $30 dollars a night Bloom sets off on his new, hopefully lucrative, career. But its not just Lou Bloom who pushes the realms of decency but his new boss played by the extremely attractive 60-year-old Rene Russo who constantly drives him ever harder to get just the right footage. 

 

It looks even more real on Television.

Screened at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre as part of this season Film Club, Nightcrawler (2014) was introduced by our host for the evening Rachel Findlay who told us a little about freelance press agency’s in Los Angeles. It was the American broadcast reporter and scientist Robert Tur who is credited with designing and building one of the first modern news helicopters used for ‘live’ reporting. With the help of his former wife Marika Gerrard, Tur founded the Los Angeles News Service in the 1970’s. This agency is said to have been one of the first to film a high-speed police chase but really came to fruition during the LA Riots, known as the Rodney King Riots, which took place between April and May 1992. Gerrard was also the first to locate and televise O. J. Simpsons infamous slow speed chase in 1994.

 

Lou Boom and his assistant tackle another cringing assignment. 

A surprisingly high percentage of the audience stayed behind after the screening with an in depth discussion following, including the lack of empathy we all had with both main characters and how we were undecided about who was worse, the ultra creepy Bloom or the unscrupulous Nina Romina, with both living off human misery and turning it into ratings and money. But I believe the true culprit in all this is the ever more demanding television audience’s without whom this type of ‘shock value news broadcasting’ would not be necessary! 

 

The morning news director Nina Romina.

This polished neo-noir type thriller has already been nominated for a whole bundle of rewards including an acting Golden Globe for Gyllenhaal and its difficult to believe that Nightcrawler is Dan Gilroy’s first outing as a feature film director and writer, who to date has been best known for his co-writing on films which have included Real Steel (2011) and The Bourne Legacy (2012). He is also the husband of Ms Russo.

 

The RBC audience shared a lack of empathy for Louis Bloom.

In conclusion I would highly recommend this movie if for no other reason than to witness an actor (Gyllenhaal) at the very top of his form. 

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[1] You will recognise Riz Ahmed from various films including Shifty (2008) Four Lions (2010) Trishna (2011) and ill Manors (2012).

Shifty

The film charts an action packed 24 hours in the life of a young crack cocaine dealer, Shifty, played by Riz Ahmed, living on the outskirts of London. The sudden return home of his best friend sets in motion a chain of events that see Shifty’s life quickly spiral out of control. Stalked by a customer desperate to score at all costs, and with his family about to turn their back on him for good, Shifty must out-smart a rival drug dealer intent on stitching him up. As his long time friend Chris, played by Daniel Mays (Atonement, Vera Drake, All or Nothing), confronts the dark past he left behind him, Shifty must face up to the various choices that’s open to him.

Based on the writer-director Eran Creevy’s teenage experiences, and boasting some convincing performances from a cast of rising stars. Shifty (2008) was funded by Film London’s Microwave scheme, and delivered after a shooting schedule of just 18 days. It is a terrific example of a film that manages to do a great deal with very little, an energetic and engaged slice of social realism that boasts a solid backbone of humour running throughout its 86 minute running time.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Indian film director, actor and producer Mira Nair has based her latest film on a best selling Booker shortlisted novel by Mohsin Hamid published in 2007, turning The Reluctant Fundamentalist  (2012) into an intriguing and thought provoking political thriller.  It deals with the thorny subject of how America approaches global terrorism through an interview that takes place in an atmospheric Lahore Tea House between Pakistan born Changez Khan and an American CIA agent masquerading as a journalist who thinks his interviewee knows the location of a kidnapped American lecturer whose life seems to be in imminent danger. Khan, played by British born Pakistan actor Riz Ahmed, relates his story to the ‘journalist’ Bobby Lincoln (Liev Schreiber) telling how he left his home country to study in America and consequently becoming a high achiever whose success at Princeton and on Wall Street lands him a highly lucrative job in a New York consulting firm under the tutorship of high flying Jim Cross (Kiefer Sutherland) and in the process lands himself a beautiful girlfriend Erica (a miscast Kate Hudson) whose father happens to be a partner in the firm where he works. Manhattans Twin towers are demolished in a terrorist attack and Changez Khan’s American dream is soured opining ‘the ruthlessness of the act was suppressed only by its genius. David had stuck Goliath’ compelling him to return to Pakistan where he takes up a post as a University Lecturer.

How a single act can affect so many lives?

The movie offers an apt example of how American prejudice after 9/11 can radicalise a law biding hard working Muslim and make him question where and with whom his loyalties lie. The humiliating treatment and the pressure put on these people can help fuel the ever-burning flames of extremism and often rebound’s on the oppressors. As I said previously an intriguing movie with a gradually build up using an intelligent narrative ploy of showing Khan backstory in detail which makes us, the viewer appreciate the difficulties that a young man of Changez Khan ethnic origin has to face in the ‘modern’ world.  In this story of divided loyalties, which was filmed in four countries, Riz Armed gives his strongest lead performance to date following on from films which have included Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010) Trishna (2011) and ill Manors (2012).

ill Manors.

Ben Drew, never afraid to give an opinion (he must be a Londoner!)

Ben Drew is an interesting character: born Benjamin Paul Balance Drew in Forest Gate East London in 1983 he is celebrated professionally as Plan B. Primarily known as a rapper and a singer songwriter. His second studio album was the very well received The Defamation of Strickland Banks (2010) a soul record that went straight to number one in the United Kingdom album charts. Another string to Drew’s bow is his talents as a movie actor appearing in Adulthood (2008), Harry Brown (2009) 4.3.2.1 (2010) and as George Carter, Detective Inspector Jack Regan’s sidekick, in the film version of The Sweeney (2012)

East End youth culture!

This rather talented young man has now written and directed his own movie ill Manors (2012). It presents a different take on the London we have all seen during this summers Olympic games. Set in Forest Gate it attempts to illustrate the gang culture of this part of East London and depicts the type of young people

who could have been involved in the inner city riots that took place during the summer of 2011. A great deal of the back ground for this movie is contained within the words of the songs written and performed by Plan B which gives us the equivalent of a spoken narrative but in song. The director giving a unique insight to a side of life which most of us only experience from the news, juxtaposing the lives of various disenfranchised young people in a very skilful manor but without glamorisation or exaggeration.

Part of this culture is the power of the gun.

Aaron (Riz Ahmed who gets better every time you see him) brought up in a children’s home is trying to stay clean and wants to locate his biological mother, his best mate Ed (Ed Skrein) a tough small time dealer, has lost his mobile phone which has got the numbers of his drug contacts. Suspecting the crack addicted prostitute Michelle (Anouska Mond) of stealing the phone he literally drags her round the streets pimping her until she has raised enough money to pay him back. Kirby, ex king pin dealer of the area has just been released from prison and now has to wrestle control from his former apprentice Chris who has taken control of the ex prisoners turf.  Chris in the mean time is trying to extract revenge for the shooting of his young sister while the teenager Jake is determined to prove himself to Marcel so he can join his gang. Katya (Natalie Press one of the few professional actors) is pregnant and trying to escape from Russian sex traffickers.

Both Chris and Jake are victims of the culture.

I think from this brief description you can ascertain the general essence of the movie. The original idea came from a short film that Ben Drew made with the help of Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas 1995) in 2008 for the London Film Festival. Beginning with a 20-page script, reduced to 5 pages it became Bisness Woman. Which in turn led to a longer film called Michelle, which demonstrated that Drew was an up and coming director of some merit.  Expanding the same character’s found in Michelle Drew went on to make ill Manors.

..... as is the young trafficked  Russian girl Katya.

Initially having to contend with 2009’s credit crunch, finance was hard to come by but eventually making the film with a micro-budget provided by the Film London Microwave scheme. Making the film on location in Forest Gate was also a problem because the local gangs, who were none too keen on them ‘invading’ their turf to make a movie, constantly monitored the crew who attempted to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Are Aaron and Ed forced into this culture by a birth lottery?

This is a fall-on hard-hitting slice of gritty entertainment based on reality that attempts to give reasons for the attitude of this disfranchised section of society. It also sets out to disprove the platitudes put out by our out of touch rulers that preaches to the gullible that staging the Olympics in East London would change the perceptions and the lives of the local inhabitants? An excellent first feature from our rap star but one that will leave you feeling you have been battered both mentally and physically.