YI JIAN’s review published on Letterboxd:
Okay. Serious question. Is Jake Gyllenhaal even real? He's so good in acting it's almost a sin. Right at the very second he appears on screen, he's already working his way to convince you he's not Jake Gyllenhaal, that he's some boy-eagle scout cartoonist from California. And boy, is he good. The way he hunches a bit while he walks, the way he stares into blank space while munching on his donut. He literally lives his characters. He dies at the end of one film and reincarnates as another person in the next. There is no Jake Gyllenhaal. He's merely an avatar. It's insane. How many big name actors have managed to do that? You see Robert Downey Jr. and you'll immediately think to yourself: Oh yeah, right. That's RDJ. RDJ's smoking cigarettes. RDJ's acting drunk. I can't wait to see the new avengers. No matter how good he is, he still can't escape himself! The same thing happens when you see Tom Cruise, or Brad Pitt, or Morgan Freeman, or Mark Ruffalo, George Clooney, Matt Damon, whatever. But not Gyllenhaal. From Donnie Darko to Prisoners to the recently released Nightcrawler (which I still have yet to watch because I've spent all my money on watching Interstellar, three times in two weeks.) He had lived so many lives. I've been admiring him since a long time ago, but now, he just gained my full respect. I fucking love the guy.
Noir-vember Film #8
