Jake Gyllenhaal returns to his creepiest best in this eerie tale of Lou Bloom, a man that seemingly has no ethics and no place or purpose in life who, when stumbling across the aftermath of an accident one night, decides to try and make a career out of filming live footage of accidents and crimes around the Los Angeles area.

Gyllenhaal can do creepy, we’ve seen it before in Donnie Darko, but this is a whole new level. He’s almost vampirically pale with sunken eyes and when he grins if feel like the smile of a serial killer. He rarely loses his temper yet you always feel that at any moment he could snap and his treatment of the people he meets along the way does nothing to disprove this theory.

He starts small with a camcorder, a police radio and a gunshot incident in the poorer side of town but Rene Russo as Nina Romina, a producer of a local TV station, purchases the footage, encourages him to continue and even gives him some pointers. He gradually upgrades his equipment, transport and ghoulishness so soon he is getting to accidents first, sometimes before the police, his footage gets more graphic, he gets deeper and deeper into the job and, if it was possible, seems to sink further into the more sinister areas of this psyche going so far as to tamper with accident and crime scenes in order to improve his shots. This leads to him becoming more successful which in turn places him in a position as the power player so that he feels like he can blackmail Rene Russo into improving his terms and conditions with unreasonable demands but knowing that she has no choice but to agree which leads to a compelling climax where the full lengths that Gyllenhaal is willing to go to are shown.

This movie is both troubling yet compelling at the same time, you want to be appalled by Gyllenhaals’ actions, yet you want to watch and see just how much further he’s willing to go. There’s something very reminiscent of the DeNiro character of Rupert Pupkin in movie The King Of Comedy, with how Gylenhall portrays Lou Bloom and it’s a testament to his acting just how disturbing he comes across.

It’s a neo-noir style thriller which will envelop you and in the end leaves you wanting more. Highly recommended, especially if you’re looking for something a little different.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 out of 10