Nightcrawler - in which a spirited entrepreneur gets into the guts=glory game of news footage gathering, by starting his own professional news gathering service. Lou Bloom is played by a very skinny Jake Gyllenhaal, and he is a petty thief who tries very hard to be charming, but there's just something about him people don't like, which is why he has no friends. He's got this weird way of talking, saying everything very matter-of-fact, even if what he's saying isn't really a fact, but he seems to convince some dumber people anyway. So, Lou Bloom happens upon a bad accident one night, and sees Bill Paxton filming the wreck and when he overhears Paxton say how much money he expects to get for the footage, his face lights up and he asks to work for him. Paxton says no, but is kind of a dick about it, and Lou Bloom steals a bike to trade at a pawn shop for a digital camera. He advertises for an employee to drive him around, but when he meets a rube who appears to be on the brink of homelessness, he convinces him to work for very little money. Lou is demanding and weird, but he begins to sell his cutthroat footage to the same station manager, Rene Russo, every night. Their professional relationship progresses to the point of sexual blackmail, and we are left to wonder how many rapes Lou Bloom has committed in his lifetime. His creepy smile is unrelenting. So, Bill Paxton's business is growing, and he adds another van, and starts beating Lou to every scene, so Lou naturally cuts his brake lines, and films the carnage of Bill Paxton being carried away on a stretcher. Um, then he gets to this crime scene before the cops one night, gets footage of the criminals, and enters the house, filming a bunch of shot people in a nice home. He lies to the police about how much he saw, and figures he can orchestrate the police apprehension of the criminals through manipulation, so he can film it, and make a whole pot of money. He goes ahead with his scary plan, and involves himself in the eventual high speed chase that ends up killing at least 3 people. He tricks his dumb employee into going into one of the criminal's black SUV's after the final crash, but the murderer is still alive, and murders the rube. Lou takes no personal responsibility for any of these deaths, and somehow comes out of the whole thing without being criminally prosecuted himself. He is so fucking scary. In the end, he has built a very successful business by acting like a creep and pressuring people to give him the things he wants. This is a poor life lesson for sociopaths.
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