“What if my problem wasn’t that I don’t understand people but that I don’t like them? What if I was the kind of person who was obliged to hurt you?”
Lou Bloom, a hungry, sociopathic freelance crime cameraman played by the magnificent Jake Gyllenhaal is deeply unsettling. He’s a man on a mission; hell-bent on growing his ‘company’, he takes to the LA streets and hires a lowly intern (Riz Ahmed) to assist him in Lou’s endeavours to make as much money as possible by capturing horrific incidents. Yet as the film continues, Lou’s progression into insanity and lust for power showcases himself as the true horror…
This is Jake Gyllenhaal’s best performance of his career to date. With a mixture of Bale’s Bateman (American Psycho), Damon’s Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley) and Robert De Niro’s Pupkin (The King of Comedy), Gyllenhaal is downright terrifying and virtually unrecognisable, playing his character with such menace that it’s easy to forget he’s acting. While Gyllenhaal faces stiff competition in this year’s Oscars race, he does more than enough to earn a nomination; whether the Academy recognise his performance is another matter entirely. Losing 13kg of weight for his role, Lou Bloom looks hungry both figuratively and literally; an unnerving presence on screen that imposes …show more content…
It’s desperately difficult to conform to director Gilroy’s intentions and root for Gyllenhaal’s anti-hero when he does nothing to earn the audience’s sympathy. Without a backstory or reasoning behind the character’s actions, any empathy for him diminishes. Scenes early on in the film, such as when he’s disappointingly rejected a job, do nothing when the audience are aware beforehand of how evil a character Lou Bloom is by the film’s opening scene. Can we really support the character’s endeavours when he’s so detestable and unlikable? I found that a difficult concept to wrap my head
Lou Bloom, a hungry, sociopathic freelance crime cameraman played by the magnificent Jake Gyllenhaal is deeply unsettling. He’s a man on a mission; hell-bent on growing his ‘company’, he takes to the LA streets and hires a lowly intern (Riz Ahmed) to assist him in Lou’s endeavours to make as much money as possible by capturing horrific incidents. Yet as the film continues, Lou’s progression into insanity and lust for power showcases himself as the true horror…
This is Jake Gyllenhaal’s best performance of his career to date. With a mixture of Bale’s Bateman (American Psycho), Damon’s Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley) and Robert De Niro’s Pupkin (The King of Comedy), Gyllenhaal is downright terrifying and virtually unrecognisable, playing his character with such menace that it’s easy to forget he’s acting. While Gyllenhaal faces stiff competition in this year’s Oscars race, he does more than enough to earn a nomination; whether the Academy recognise his performance is another matter entirely. Losing 13kg of weight for his role, Lou Bloom looks hungry both figuratively and literally; an unnerving presence on screen that imposes …show more content…
It’s desperately difficult to conform to director Gilroy’s intentions and root for Gyllenhaal’s anti-hero when he does nothing to earn the audience’s sympathy. Without a backstory or reasoning behind the character’s actions, any empathy for him diminishes. Scenes early on in the film, such as when he’s disappointingly rejected a job, do nothing when the audience are aware beforehand of how evil a character Lou Bloom is by the film’s opening scene. Can we really support the character’s endeavours when he’s so detestable and unlikable? I found that a difficult concept to wrap my head