Because I’m heavily interested in interpersonal relationships and interactions, it’s characters that make or break a movie for me. No matter how thoughtful or stunning the visuals, or how tight the dialogue, I generally don’t enjoy movies if the characters are lackluster. This doesn’t mean I have to like the characters per say– just that they need to feel real and complex. Here are two (very different) characters that make their respective movies worth watching.

Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler is the story of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a fearless, sociopathic entrepreneur who breaks into the Los Angeles crime journalism industry. Though he is friendly to the people around him, there is an extreme coldness to all of his interactions. He is constantly measuring what he can get from other people and what he must give to get it. It’s clear early on that he has no feelings for anyone, and no capacity for empathy. Nothing about his job (which consists of him driving around at night, listening to radio scanners and racing to crime scenes for footage of dead bodies, house fires or deadly car crashes) fazes him. He is obsessed with order and success: he lies, sabotages, and abuses his employees to get ahead. As the movie goes on, he crosses more and more moral boundaries until his sociopathic nature is fully exposed. It’s shocking and absolutely riveting to watch. To me, it’s his formality that is the funniest (and also most disturbing) aspect of his personality. He takes himself and his business incredibly seriously despite its seedy and somewhat illegitimate nature: this scene is one of my favorites, and does a great job exemplifying his personality.

Frances Halladay in Frances Ha

Stories about broke white 20-somethings living in New York are so profuse that generally the genre feels pretty tired to me. Frances Ha is the exception, and I think this is because the titular character is such a thoughtfully constructed individual. She longs to be a professional dancer, but struggles to recognize that her aspirations don’t line up with her abilities, no matter how hard she works. She blinked and suddenly everyone around her is grown up– moving in with their partners, having credit cards, buying art, paying their rent easily– but she doesn’t want/isn’t ready to make that transition. She wants to live with her best friend and play games and pursuing her fantasy career. These traits really aren’t remarkably different from those of the other lost 20-somethings that populate TV and film, but Greta Gerwig really brings her to life as a multidimensional, achingly relatable character. Because of her performance, watching Frances grow throughout the movie is extremely cathartic and touching.