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.
For a film as over-the-top as this, it might be counterintuitive to talk about subtlety, but Stewart is genuinely that; her line readings are coolly calibrated, quizzical, restrained, sometimes infinitesimally double-taking at the bizarre or outrageous things happening in front of her.
Despite the radio reporting the fall of the Berlin Wall and some very “Just Say No”-era drug busts, this is a mythic 1980s and a mythic USA, peopled by venal desperados pulled from the mildewed pages of a 1950s Jim Thompson novel.
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.
Visceral and heady, this is a blood-soaked, all-American fable that’s as if Thelma And Louise literally went on steroids. Rose Glass is a force to be reckoned with.
Love Lies Bleeding is a hallucinatory trip down the darkest byways of Americana. It’s too blunt to be as unsettling as Saint Maud but it will leave no one indifferent.
Not all of it works. Heavy doses of melodrama and flashy surrealism sap some of the lurid spell of “Love Lies Bleeding.” But this feels tantalizingly close to the idealized version of a Kristen Stewart film.
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.
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…
I had high hopes, but it was ultimately kinda dumb and boring. Kristen Stewart seemed as wooden as ever, even with a veneer of sweat and grease. If there was some feminist or lesbian point to this, I didn't get it. Every character was lousy and had no sympathy for them. No idea what her dad was so powerful for, so a complete waste of Ed Harris. The only bright spot was Katy O'Brian. She was electrifying and a wonderful combination of strength and innocence. She was the only one I was rooting for and her character was tossed around by everyone. Lot of style, not much substance.
Another writer/director obsessed with smoking, including rampant smoking the gym? Strange. . Kristen Stewart seemed as wooden as ever. The writing is clunky and poorly researched. Ed Harris is the only bright spot.