SummaryReclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
SummaryReclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
The all-out Love Lies Bleeding is a love story that won’t work for everyone. However, for those who can revel in the blood-soaked, complicated, sapphic delights that make up the backbone of the film, the saga of Lou and Jackie will be one for the ages.
Dive head first into this pulpy, erotic crime thriller starring a fireball Kristen Stewart as a gym manager in hot love with a young bodybuilder (a sensational Katy M. O'Brian), Directed in a fever by the great Rose Glass, the film is a grenade of image and sound ready to blow.
Exploring the boundaries of film noir, “Love Lies Bleeding” is a grimy, bloody, hot, sweaty, pulse-pounding, sexy, gory mess. You should go see it **** 1989, Lou (Kristen Stewart – “Twilight” series, “Spencer”) is marking time managing a run-down gym in rural New Mexico. The first time we see her, she’s unclogging a toilet. Into her gym and her life walks Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a buff, seemingly confident woman on her way to a body-building competition in Las Vegas. When a guy at the gym hits on Jackie, she punches him in the face, hard. Lou is in love. It’s all an intriguing variation on the femme fatale and the macho stereotypes that typically populate this genre. (“Of all the gym joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine.”) Lou, it turns out, is the daughter of the local gangster (an excellent Ed Harris), who skirts the law, sells guns on the black market and generally runs the town with a pitiless, self-serving efficiency. Perhaps Jackie is Lou’s ticket out of this soul-crushing **** intentions, the execution and the action throughout this film are all first-rate. Director/Co-Writer Rose Glass (“Saint Maud”) dabbles in plenty of the tropes associated with film noir. But she also offers a refreshing new take in several areas. One of the powerful themes here is the overlapping nature of addiction, obsession and love. Lou offers Jackie her passion (and anabolic steroids). There’s also a clear intimation, particularly in the film’s final scene, that the only way to get what you really want is by being remorselessly ruthless. The script, co-written by Polish writer/director Weronika Tofilska, offers scenes that rival the Coen Brothers’ feature film debut “Blood Simple.” The score by Clint Mansell and cinematography from Ben Fodesman (a “Saint Maud” alum) add texture and atmosphere to the proceedings.While O’Brian is a powerful presence physically and emotionally, this is Kristen Stewart’s film. She conveys an edgy wariness and a pervasive skepticism that are heart-breaking. Her lingering glances at Jackie offer a window into her soul, while her skittish manner suggests a dog that’s been kicked one too many times. She’s mesmerizing.What doesn’t work for me is the surrealism Director Glass inserts in the final act. While she foreshadows these leaps into fantasy and her intentions are admirable, these scenes just don’t work. It’s a trifling criticism, important only because this leap into surrealism is a notable departure from the brash self-assurance that propels the film most of the time.This is not a film for the faint of heart. It’s a brutally unblinking assessment of human nature that is simultaneously exhilarating and profoundly depressing. It’s a cautionary tale about the price to be paid when seizing personal power.
I wish the busting-loose part went further in “Love Lies Bleeding.” But Stewart, subtle and fierce, and O’Brian, sinewy and fiercer, prove exceptional at hitting two or three notes at once, and never obviously.
The entertaining movie from director Rose Glass, whose first feature was “Saint Maud,” is unsparing in its graphic depictions of violence, abuse and extreme aspects of the body. Many will find all of that stuff gratuitous, but it fleshes out this unsavory world and ratchets up the plot’s tension.
Rose Glass's sophomore feature, a grimy 80s set crime drama/love story, again shows off her talent as a visual storyteller and an ability to get inside the minds of her characters.
Transfixed for an hour and 44 minutes. The cast is amazing, and the way the story unfolds in that noir fashion, with the blood and guts added to the mix, is just the doctor ordered in this era of no-risk-taking in Hollywood. Kudos to all involved!
I’m admittedly not in the demo of this film, but I love Kristen Stewart, and she’s solid here. The film has some great individual bits, unfortunately it just doesn’t all come together as smoothly as it could…
Yet another attempt of the putrid-minded perverts from the movie industry to cram down our throats their sexцal dєvїaит and PЄdopнїle agenda. Disgusting.