Current:Home > BackReview: Full of biceps and bullets, 'Love Lies Bleeding' will be your sexy noir obsession-InfoLens
Review: Full of biceps and bullets, 'Love Lies Bleeding' will be your sexy noir obsession
View Date:2024-12-23 14:16:28
Sultry, sweaty and sufficiently bizarre, “Love Lies Bleeding” is a neo-noir thriller packed with barbells and bullets that’s fearless in its depiction of lesbian love and over-the-top mayhem.
Director Rose Glass follows up the unholy terror of 2019’s “Saint Maud” by rubbing a grimy sheen across a zesty retro combo of a revenge flick, addiction narrative, body horror show and queer love story. Newcomer Katy O’Brian is sensational as a bisexual bodybuilder who gets mixed up in some bad business – with Kristen Stewart as her troubled romantic interest – in a muscular yet incomplete yarn (★★★ out of four; rated R; in select theaters now, nationwide Friday) exploring the seedier corners of Americana.
In small-town New Mexico circa 1989, Lou (Stewart) oversees a ramshackle gym where her days are spent unclogging nasty toilets and laminating membership cards. One night, Jackie (O’Brian) stops by on the way to a competition in Las Vegas: Working her ripped physique garners male attention, though she only has eyes for Lou, and vice versa.
They hit it off, and Lou taps into her steroid supply to help Jackie get extra jacked for the big day. But the more Jackie immerses herself into Lou’s tumultuous world, the more trouble she finds. Jackie starts working for her new love’s skeezy estranged dad (Ed Harris), the bug-chomping criminal owner of a local gun club and also meets the abusive husband (Dave Franco) of Lou’s sister (Jena Malone).
An act of familial violence goes too far, the vengeful aftermath tests Jackie and Lou’s fledgling relationship, Lou threatens to expose her father’s shady dealings, and the bodies pile up as our lovers get desperate.
'I want to do the gayest ... thing':Kristen Stewart on donning jockstrap for Rolling Stone cover
Lives go off the rails, but Glass keeps the plot from following suit, weaving in a dark sense of humor (there’s a whole bit with a jawless corpse) and a fantastical bent. “Bleeding” gets weird but not too weird, and the intense chemistry between Stewart and O’Brian powers an insightful exploration of how love can save just as easily as it can turn one’s entire existence into pure chaos.
Stewart is solid as the frazzled Lou, who struggles to find steadiness even when Ms. Right walks through her gym door. But none of it works without O'Brian, whose first lead big-screen role is a performance she nails physically and emotionally. A former bodybuilder herself, the actress superbly navigates the arc of a hulking character transformed by steroids and her increasingly volatile situation. O’Brian finds the unsettled soul underneath Jackie’s rippling muscles and lets her loose, flaws and all, but is also game for a healthy amount of strangeness too.
When Jackie and Lou aren’t together, the movie suffers because neither of their individual points of view are particularly strong. Bits of their backstories come out but not enough for two people whose cryptic pasts seemingly inform their unhinged present. You’re left wanting more – they’re both called “monsters” by different people, which does pay off in a sense – in a film that otherwise is pretty good at juggling style and substance.
“Love Lies Bleeding” is a blood-soaked throwback to '80s erotic thrillers and action cinema but also Glass’ deconstruction of cinematic hypermasculinity through a female lens. Instead of dudes named Schwarzenegger and Stallone, it’s a woman named Jackie with the veiny biceps, who when offered a gun, says she doesn’t need one: “I prefer to know my own strength.” For this movie, that is the teaming of Stewart and O'Brian, who's about to be movie lovers' powerful new obsession.
veryGood! (61)
Related
- CRYPTIFII Introduce
- Her 10-year-old son died in a tornado in Tennessee. Her family's received so many clothing donations, she wants them to go others in need.
- Semi-trailer driver dies after rig crashes into 2 others at Indiana toll plaza
- Pew survey: YouTube tops teens’ social-media diet, with roughly a sixth using it almost constantly
- 4 arrested in California car insurance scam: 'Clearly a human in a bear suit'
- Can a potential employer give minors drug test without parental consent? Ask HR
- Donald Trump’s lawyers again ask for early verdict in civil fraud trial, judge says ‘no way’
- Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed ahead of the Fed’s decision on interest rates
- 2 dead in explosion at Kentucky factory that also damaged surrounding neighborhood
- Auto union boss urges New Jersey lawmakers to pass casino smoking ban
Ranking
- The Stanley x LoveShackFancy Collaboration That Sold Out in Minutes Is Back for Part 2—Don’t Miss Out!
- Indhu Rubasingham named as first woman to lead Britain’s National Theatre
- Iran executes man convicted of killing a senior cleric following months of unrest
- How to watch 'The Amazing Race' Season 35 finale: Date, time, finalists, what to know
- Walmart Planned to Remove Oven Before 19-Year-Old Employee's Death
- Jennifer Aniston recalls last conversation with 'Friends' co-star Matthew Perry: 'He was happy'
- DeSantis goes after Trump on abortion, COVID-19 and the border wall in an Iowa town hall
- Caitlin Clark signs NIL with Gatorade. How does Iowa star stack up to other star athletes?
Recommendation
-
Kendall Jenner Is Back to Being a Brunette After Ditching Blonde Hair
-
New, stronger climate proposal released at COP28, but doesn’t quite call for fossil fuel phase-out
-
Wu-Tang Clan announces first Las Vegas residency in 2024: See the dates
-
Climate talks end on a first-ever call for the world to move away from fossil fuels
-
13 escaped monkeys still on the loose in South Carolina after 30 were recaptured
-
Why Julia Roberts calls 'Pretty Woman'-inspired anniversary gift on 'RHOBH' 'very strange'
-
New, stronger climate proposal released at COP28, but doesn’t quite call for fossil fuel phase-out
-
Missouri county to pay $1.2 million to settle lawsuit over inmate restraint chair death