BRUTALLY DISHONEST, Newsblues article: TRUE!!!!! Nightcrawler, a film about the dark underside of El Lay crime reporting, stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a freelancer willing to cross any line to get the story. He has shady sources in dark places. Gyllenhaal spends a lot of time with a flashlight in his hand. He has a trusty dark-skinned photojournalist sidekick who lugs a tiny camera with a bright light. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to rave reviews, and will open in US theaters Halloween weekend. According to producers, Nightcrawler pulls no punches in its depiction of the often brutal and morally suspect world of L.A. crime news reporting where if it bleeds, it leads, and the more brutal the images, the higher the ratings. Director Dan Gilroy, who has worked as a journalist himself, insists he was not out to vilify the profession. Its not journalism Im pointing a finger at, he said. They are caught in a system that demands that they provide ratings. It does go very dark in the film but I have always imagined an audience watching will go further and see that, as the consumer of these images, they are part of the system too. Were uncertain what world of L.A. crime news reporting Gilroy occupied, but in the real world, todays TV crime reporters tend to be late twenty-somethings with big hair and clingy dresses. TV crime reporters dont prowl the streets after midnight. They rush to the scene in a live truck, do a quick hit, then rush to the next story...posting selfies on Twitter and Facebook as they wait in El Lay traffic. Nightcrawler claims to have real newscasters aboard. In fact, retired KCBS-2 and KCAL-9 news anchor Kent Shocknek plays the role of TV Newscaster. Blondiful actress Leah Fredkin and CBS Radios Bill Seward also appear in the film as News Anchors. (A blond news anchor? Imagine.) Your Surly Editor® is prepared to be underwhelmed by Hollywoods latest depiction of a TV news industry that no one outside of the industry seems to really understand. Movie makers appear more enthralled with the if it bleeds, it leads concept than do actual TV news operations.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 16:54:33 +0000
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