Nightcrawler: Jake Gyllenhaal unrecognisable in ugly thriller that's hard to take your eyes off 'Nightcrawler,' starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is a dark dream of a thriller, WSJ's Joe Morgenstern tells Tanya Rivero on Lunch Break. Photo: Open Road Films/Nightcrawler JAKE Gyllenhaal fans, beware: your idol has never been so ­repellent as in Nightcrawler. Playing Louis Bloom, a freelance news cameraman specialising in accident and crime-scene footage, Gyllenhaal is gaunt and greasy-haired, with a cold, reptilian stare, perpetually on the lookout for suffering he can exploit. Bloom is a petty thief who gets into the TV news game after witnessing a veteran ­ambulance chaser, Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), filming the aftermath of a freeway car crash. Jake Gyllenhaal lost 15kg to play the part of the repellent Louis Bloom. Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo in a scene from the film. Bloom obtains his own camera, a police radio scanner and a naive assistant, Richard (Riz Ahmed), and quickly impresses a morning news producer, Nina (Rene Russo), with his gruesome footage. It's just the kind of cynical stuff that ­attracts ratings. The directorial debut of Dan Gilroy, it's the kind of movie that will leave you feeling grimy and in need of a shower after watching. A parable of ­recession-hit America, it portrays the sordid lengths to which people will go to make a buck. Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed in a scene from the film. Louis Bloom is a petty thief who turns to filming for news TV. We can only hope it's a gross exaggeration. It might have been more impactful, however, if its lead character were less of a cipher. Louis has no real personality. A real human being who has to rationalise amoral choices in his career would make for a more elevated movie ­experience than watching this sociopath at work. And yet, when Louis arrives at a murder scene in time to film the faces of the killers, this ugly thriller becomes harder and harder to look away from. Jake Gyllenhaal underwent an exreme transformation for his role in 'Nightcrawler', dropping an incredible 15kg and scaring his mother in the process. Film Nighcrawler Released by Madman Director Dan Gilroy Running time 117 minutes Verdict Icky story of the lowest rung of TV journalism Originally published as Hard to take your eyes off this ugly little thriller