David Gordon Green's Boston Marathon bio-pic, STRONGER, certainly is -- for awhile, at least....

Thanks to an Oscar-worthy performances from lead Jake Gyllenhaal and supporting actress Miranda Richardson, and a less-showy-but equally-fine one from co-star Tatiana Maslany, STRONGER -- a new film about the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing from filmmaker David Gordon Green -- proves a better, much more real dissection of part of that event than did last year's too-often fake but feel-good Patriot's Day.

Filmmaker Green, shown below, provides his usual flair for documentary-like realism coupled to an ability to draw very strong characterizations from his entire cast. The generally well-drawn screenplay -- by actor/writer John Pollono and based on the book by Bret Witter and Jeff Bauman, the latter of whose story the movie tells -- helps a good deal, too.

For a feel-good, triumph-of-the-human-spirit movie -- which, unfortunately, this one turns out to be -- Stronger is surprisingly dark, from the beginning, going forward, and very nearly until its conclusion. To his and its great credit, Mr. Bauman -- portrayed ably by Mr. Gyllenhaal, below -- and the movie about him have trouble defining the man as any kind of "hero" of the Boston Marathon massacre. He was a victim not a hero, and the manner in which the media both heralds and uses him is sleazy and stupid, pointing up much that is regrettable about western society today.

Gyllenhaal's Bauman is, from the movie's initial scene, something of a charming fuck-up. His character doesn't change much throughout, as the actor insists upon showing us his warts-and-little-else personality. He evidently comes from a family of loudmouth Boston drunks, of which Ms Richardson's uber-controlling mother (below, right) is at the forefront.

What makes the movie as powerful as it is comes from Gyllenhaal's hugely committed work. He makes us experience this character's every painful, excruciating moment -- from the bombing itself (seen only in flashback) to waking up in the hospital bed and having the bandages painfully removed to his on-and-off but growing relationship to his girlfriend, portrayed with grit and caring by Ms Maslany, below.

In fact, so continually dark (and believable!) does the movie become, as Bauman descends deeper into depression, doom and drink, that when, far too suddenly, his journey shifts direction, it simply seems both too fast and somehow unearned. And as well-acted, despite too big a bundle of exposition, as the scene is, late in the film, between him and the fellow (played by Carlos Sanz, below, right) who saved his life by applying tourniquets to his thighs at the time of the bombing, as well as another confrontation between Bauman and a couple fans at a sports event, both of these scenes act as too-obvious explanations/shortcuts to recovery.

So, even as Stronger achieves its feel-good finish, its strength weakens accordingly. Too bad, because the performances are compelling and the subject matter and its theme are important. But mainstream movies have their demands, and though this happy ending (or middle, at least) actually happened, the road there, movie-wise, could have been better negotiated.

From Roadside Attractions and running 118 minutes, Stronger opens nationwide today, Friday, September 22. To find a  theater near you, simply click here then click on GET TICKETS on the task bar atop your screen.

Dan Gilroy's dark 'n devious NIGHTCRAWLER offers Jake Gyllenhaal's best performance yet

A just-about-perfect (if awfully long) double bill of current movies might be Gone Girl and NIGHTCRAWLER, the two films offering the most sociopathic leading characters in many a moon. If these two were married, whom do you think would survive? I'd bet on Jake Gyllenhaal's Louis Bloom. This is both a character, and the perfor-mance of that character, that is bizarre and memorable -- like just about nothing you will have seen previously. In retrospect, you might have some questions (few, I think, that you won't be able to answer on your own), but while you're watching, you're absolutely in thrall.

Writer/director Dan Gilroy (at right) is best-known for his screenplays (The Bourne Legacy, The Fall and the highly under-rated Two for the Money).This is his first directing job, and he does his own screenplay proud. Nothing showy, mind you, but all is in its place. This is also a long film -- coming in three minutes shy of two hours -- but it moves so quickly and interestingly that you don't realize the length. And Mr. Gyllenhaal, below and further below, is giving such a rapturous performance -- strange yet graceful, measured, and as real as you could ask for -- that he, in one scene, almost brought me to tears.

This is doubly odd, since his character is such a sociopath, and though we know this from the initial scene, we don't learn the extent of it until the movie gets much further underway. How this character discovers his metier, as it were, and what he does with it, make for the most fascinating tale movies have told us this year.

Into that tale arrive two important characters. The most important is a woman (played exceptionally well by Rene Russo, above, right, who I'm told is the filmmaker's wife) in charge of news programming at an up-and-coming local TV station in the Los Angeles area who gloms onto Louis' video work. The other is the younger man (a fine Riz Ahmed, below, center, and minus his British accent) whom Louis hires as his assistant.

All the other characters, many of whom die or are already dead when we meet them, are important to our protagonist only in so much as they can be of use to him. And as the tale proceeds, this use becomes more and more shocking, though it never leaves the realm of believability.

Nightcrawler is dark, certainly, and unsettling too, but it is so well conceived and executed that it is impossible not to recommend. Its plotting is also more believable than some of the twists and turns taken by Gone Girl, a movie I thoroughly enjoyed but found wanting in the mystery department, though not at all in terms of its being a crackerjack exploration of today's 30-somethings -- so entitled and narcissistic.

Released via Open Road, the film is currently playing in theaters across the nation. I recommend a visit; failing that, be sure to stick it on your must-see list for Blu-ray, DVD or streaming.