Nightcrawler

Lou Bloom is a petty thief in Los Angeles — furtive, hyperarticulate, and fundamentally alone. He speaks in the language of business self-help books, talks about work ethic and opportunity, and cannot find legitimate employment. One night he witnesses freelance camera operators filming a car accident for local TV news and immediately understands: this is a market with no ceiling, and he has no moral floor.

Lou buys a cheap camera and a police scanner and begins racing to crime scenes at night. He approaches Nina, a news director at a struggling local station, who buys his footage. Their relationship becomes transactional and coercive — Lou understands she needs him and uses that leverage with quiet, relentless precision. He hires a desperate young man named Rick as a navigator for minimum wage.

Lou's footage improves — not because he gets lucky, but because he begins interfering with scenes. He moves bodies for better framing. He arrives first and films before police do. He withholds information that might have prevented further crime. He is not documenting violence; he is curating it.

Lou learns of a home invasion triple murder in a wealthy neighborhood before police arrive. He films the bodies in detail and captures the fleeing suspects on video — footage he deliberately withholds from police to sell exclusively to Nina, giving the killers time to strike again.

In the climax, Lou uses Rick as bait — sending him into a situation Lou knows will turn violent, in order to capture the police confrontation on film. Rick is shot and killed. Lou films it. He coaches his own interview with investigators afterward, saying nothing incriminating. The film ends with Lou's operation expanding, a new crew of young men in the van, Lou giving them the same speech about hard work and opportunity he once gave himself.