Night Crawler on Netflix 

I came across this on Netflix, surfing for something grim, stark, and disturbing. After watching it for a few minutes, I realized that I’d seen it before. But I kept watching, partly because my memory is terrible these days, but also because it was well photographed in a dark and moody sort of way.

The topic is American popular culture. And the theme is America’s morbid fascination with social and commercial vulgarity, and our existential preference for avoiding anything meaningful in life.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Renee Russo give mesmerizing performances.

If you like elevator pitches, I’d say Night Crawler is Network meets Taxi Driver.