(May Contain Spoilers)
A very disturbing film! I was quite shocked and the title didn’t really give the film away because I thought it was going to be something entirely different and was pleasantly surprised. I thought the cinematography was great and the characters were well developed and thought out. The plot took me a little bit to get into, but once I did I was truly distrubed AND intrigued!
Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a petty thief who wants more out of life and on his way home he sees a car accident and pulls over to look, but he is not the only one. A van suddenly pulls over and two men get out with cameras, flash blazing; they are camera operators who catch live footage for news broadcasters and sell it to them. Lou then decides that this job is for him and buys a camera, learns the police lingo and starts straight away. Lou is a lucky son-of-a-bitch who manages to charm his way and lie to get into all sorts of situations. Once he gets some footage he takes it to a network and they assume that he already works for them, but manages to get in and show them the footage and get a sort-of contract.
Lou then hires an assistant to help him and they both start getting good at finding disasters to follow and film, however some they miss and others they are there even before the police! One, Lou actually grabs the body from a car accident and drags it to a better position for the camera to see! Lou really started taking his job to the extreme, even to the point where he goes to a house that has had a gun shooting and videos the men leaving and goes into the house filming all the victims dead, bloody bodies. When the police ask for the footage he gives them some and keeps the murders footage out their way so he can find them and call them in and film the whole thing live, orchestrating everything and this results in police murders and his colleague who he films dying!
I thought this film was great and Gyllenhaal plays the character so well, I could really see the authenticity in this character to do anything to gain benefit, even if it meant people dying! The only thing I felt the film didn’t need was the sexual harassment that Lou took upon Nina (Rene Russo), I understand why the character would and could do something like this but I thought it was in bad taste and didn’t need it. A disturbing look someone who is willing to do anything for personal gain.
Stream now on Netflix.
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