Nightcrawler (2014)

Psychopath videotapes and sells crime scene footage to TV networks

One of my favorite films of 2014. Like a modernized Taxi Driver transported to the West Coast, Nightcrawler centers on a psychopathic protagonist, isolated and lacking in compassion, who sees the very worst in the world around him. But whereas Travis Bickle detested the filth of 70s NYC and waged his own personal war against it, Nightcrawler’s Louis Bloom use the excesses of society as footholds for his own ascent to glory. Anchored by a terrific performance from Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler is both darkly enthralling and bitingly relevant.