Love Lies Bleeding
March 11th, 2024
MOVIE: LOVE LIES BLEEDING
STARRING: KRISTEN STEWART, KATY O’BRIAN, DAVE FRANCO, JENA MALONE, ED HARRIS
DIRECTED BY: ROSE GLASS
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 4 STARS (Out of 4)
The strength of Love Lies Bleeding is unpredictable. Like The Incredible Hulk or a monster on a rampage, it’s not about strength, it’s about loss of control. What comes from that loss of control is a sense of freedom. The characters we meet have never been free but instead forced into the corners of the world. Hiding in the shadows has allowed them to survive and when we see that release, it allows us to see an incredibly cool and sexy side. Director Rose Glass’ newest film is a cool blend of a love story and a crime thriller, following two women in a small desert town of Nevada, meeting by chance, and finding a way to exist in the ruthless world around them. Love Lies Bleeding is raw and powerful cinema.
The time is the mid-1980s. We meet Lou (Kristen Stewart commanding the screen) cleaning toilets in the gym she manages, doing things around the establishment that keep her out of the way. Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov) is an addict, obsessed with Lou, and someone who has been available for casual sex. But things change when in walks the muscular and stunning Jackie (Katie O’Brian with a breakthrough performance). She’s a runaway, living on the streets, looking for work, or any way to supplement her trip to the bodybuilding championships in Las Vegas. That was the goal until the passionate connection with Lou derails things and sometimes with that love can follow the dark and scary world that surrounds them.
A fascinating factor for Love Lies Bleeding is that it’s the follow-up for Glass, after her breakout horror film Saint Maud, instantly confirming that this director can do any genre. Describing the plot is as simple as it is a romance that turns into a dark crime drama. We meet Lou’s sister Beth (Jena Malone) and her abusive husband JJ (Dave Franco playing a great squeeze ball). It’s his very existence that has caused a rift in this family, but it’s clear that Lou’s drug-dealing, gun-running father Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) has equally been an abusive force. When Jackie comes into the picture, life becomes happy for Lou, and when Beth’s face is bludgeoned by JJ, there is a new person around who won’t put up with that kind of abuse.
The screenplay is co-written by Glass and Wromnika Tofliska and to their great credit, have made a film that shows genuine love and care for a passionate sexual interaction. Love Lies Bleeding is erotic in different kinds of ways, from the cinematography that captures the physique of a person, while the energy between Lou and Jackie is magnetic. When the plot turns to the rich matters of murder, covering up dead bodies, and decisions made that the two of them never thought they were capable of, that’s when it becomes really good.
Love Lies Bleeding is a fine-tuned machine, a well-oiled muscle flexing, popping, and gripping you till you break. It’s reminiscent of films such as Bob Rafelson’s Stay Hungry, the tense thrillers of No Country for Old Men, or the erotic romance of Blue is the Warmest Color. Each actor is genuinely delivering within what their role calls for, as both Malone and Stewart impress the most, while Ed Harris is genuinely terrifying, and O’Brian is the biggest revelation of the year. Love Lies Bleeding is flexing all of its muscles and it deserves a standing ovation.
LOVE LIES BLEEDING IS PLAYING IN THEATERS ON FRIDAY MARCH 15TH, 2024.
4 STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
leo@amovieguy.com
