Nightcrawler (2014)

A functioning sociopath (Jake Gyllenhaal) accidentally runs across a free lance video "journalist" shooting a bloody auto accident and discovers money can be made from such a career. He purchases a cheap camera and a police radio scanner and haunts crime scenes until he gets something he can sell. When the news director (Rene Russo, back and in great form) at a low rated local TV station buys the footage and encourages him, he becomes more successful until one day he crosses a line and once crossed can only lead down a path darkly! The directorial debut of screenwriter Dan Gilroy (THE BOURNE LEGACY), this is a disturbing yet slyly comic look at the media's obsession for being the first to break news and their appetite for graphic images as well as lack of ethical and moral scruples. The film is set in Los Angeles (several local news anchors play themselves) and truth to tell, I can't imagine this film being set in any city other than L.A. Gyllenhaal gives a bravura performance, possibly the most fascinating and disturbing sociopath since TAXI DRIVER's Travis Bickle. Gyllenhaal's lost his muscular build and his blank face and monotonous voice has an air of the living dead about him, even his smile is unintentionally creepy! Definitely one of the stronger American films of the year. With Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmed.