Love Lies Bleeding
Its 1989 New Mexico, and openly gay Lou – who runs her fathers gym, meets Jackie a bodybuilder on her way to Vegas for a body building competition.
They soon fall for each other, but things start to get in their way; namely her family. There is her father Lou Sr, the local gun club owner and arms dealer, her sister Beth, along with her abusive husband JJ.
Direction
Directed by Rose Glass it is visually and stylistically brilliant. It shows both the beauty of the surrounding lands of New Mexico, as well as the grim and often grotesque.
It uses colours such as yellows and browns, that represent the time period, as well. It is however the use of reds, that represent the torment and strained relationships – especially that of Lou and her father Lou Sr.
These reds are seen in the flashbacks of events Lou does for her father, and a tense present day conversation they have which is illuminated in the red of a Coke machine
Cast/Characters
Kristen Stewart who plays Lou is perfectly cast. Her mannerisms and moments within the screenplay are done well with her unique approach and subtle nuances.
Katy O’Brien plays Jackie, who like her on screen character is a real life bodybuilder. Her physical presence is impressive, and she plays well with Stewart.
Jena Malone is sensational as Beth, who has the sadly cliched character type of the beaten housewife, who loves her husband unconditionally despite what he does to her.
Dave Franco plays JJ, who tries to emulate his father in law with look, and personality.
It is screen legend Ed Harris, who plays the almost unrecognisable, and the at times physically and emotionally grotesque Lou Sr. He is simply brilliant in the role (and the hair was a choice by him apparently!)
Breakdown
Despite some of the more intense moments of the film; love seems to be an overarching theme. Lou has seemingly never had love in her life, especially not from her father – and it seems not romantically. Jackie’s entrance into her life opens that door for the first time.
There is also the secondary relationships as well such as Beth and JJ – as Beth desperately loves JJ despite him beating her to an inch of her life at one point in the film.
This obviously leads to the biggest narrative arc in the film, where Jackie kills JJ. Lou assists in getting rid of the ‘evidence’, which snowballs into the finality of the relationship between Lou and her father.
Addiction is also a theme I noticed, with Lou clearly trying to quit smoking through the film, meanwhile is the inception of Jackie’s addiction to steroids.
Both try to quit their habits during the film, with Lou’s almost comical at times when she is tempted by a packet in JJ’s pocket as she is getting rid of his body, and then giving in to her craving at the end of the film when she is getting rid of another body.
As ridiculous as all this sounds, this is nothing to the absurdsim of the final few minutes of the film, which I didn’t particularly like/understand.
Jackie, after being rescued by Lou at the end of the film becomes a giant and attacks Lou Sr. This happens after quite a bit of foreshadowing (muscles tensing in the hospital, and then becoming partial giant after killing JJ).
This took away from what was albeit an extreme, but believable melodrama, to an unrealistic cinematic experience. And this was after Jackie’s steroid come down hallucination where she throws up Lou!
Overall
There are ups and downs in the film; mostly ups – especially from lead star Stewart who it feels as though Lou was written especially for.
The direction from Glass is solid, and the use of colours are done well.
The ending with the absurdist nature is strange, and an odd creative choice.
Still gets a recommend.
3.5/5