The trailer for this grungy-style film looked interesting and good, especially with the cast, and it was getting positive reviews from critics, including Mark Kermode, I was glad when I got the opportunity to see it on the big screen, co-written and directed by Rose Glass (Saint Maud). Basically, set in New Mexico in 1989, Louise "Lou" Langston (Kristen Stewart) is the manager of a gymnasium often pressured by her obsessive lesbian friend Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov) to go on a date. Jaqueline "Jackie" Cleaver (Katy O'Brian) is a bodybuilder who arrives in town and has sex with JJ (Dave Franco) to secure a job at a gun range. Lou visits her sister, Beth (Jena Malone), who has children and suffers domestic abuse from her husband, JJ. Jackie is taken by JJ to the gun range and meets the owner, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), accepting a job as a waitress. Jackie comes to work out at the gym, and Lou is immediately smitten by her. Jackie tells Lou about the job she has at the shooting range, unaware that the owner is Lou's estranged father. Jackie also tells her that she is making her way to Las Vegas for a bodybuilding competition. Lou offers her steroids, which Jackie initially hesitates but ends up using. The two soon have sex and Jackie asks to stay at Lou's apartment. The pair have dinner with JJ and Beth, and Lou is aware of the abuse. She defends Beth and threatens JJ. In return, JJ tells her that he had sex with Jackie, which angers her. While driving home, Lou forces Jackie out of the car, mentioning she wants JJ dead, but quickly lets her back in when she sees two FBI agents. She is aware that they may be investigating her father who is connected to criminal activities in town. The next day, Beth is hospitalised after JJ has severely beaten her. Lou Sr. Arrives and promises to care for Beth. Jackie has become emotionally unstable from spontaneous substance abuse; she breaks into JJ's home and brutally beats him to death. Lou arrives and is shaken, admitting she did not actually want JJ dead. They roll his corpse into a carpet and drive to the ravine out of town, where Lou used to help her father dispose of the bodies of business rivals. On the way there, Daisy spots them and recognises Jackie is driving Lou's truck. After disposing of the body in the trick and setting it on fire, Lou cleans up evidence of the murder. Jackie continues her steroid addiction and grows more agitated. Following an argument, Jackie hurts Lou headbutting her, then leaves and hitchhikes to Las Vegas. While her individual performance at the competition starts well, Jackie in her steroid-induced psychosis has a panic attack and hallucinates vomiting a fully grown Lou. In reality, she vomits on the stage and runs off in humiliation. When she sees other competitors laughing at her, she viciously attacks them and is arrested. Meanwhile, JJ's truck is found in the ravine, along with several bodies from previous bodies. When Lou arrives home, she runs into Daisy who asks several about Jackie driving JJ's truck. To keep her silent, Lou has sex with Daisy, and they apparently begin a relationship. Lou Sr. Bails Jackie out of jail and coerces her to kill Daisy, the only witness to the murder, giving her a gun. Lou and Daisy are just arriving at her apartment when Jackie shoots Daisy from behind and runs away. Before Lou can do anything, she is forced to hide her body behind the sofa when FBI agents come to question her about JJ. Jackie returns to Lou Sr., only to be knocked unconscious. He calls Lou saying he has Jackie and plans to pin the double homicide on her. Lou threatens to expose her father's operation if he does so, causing him to hang up in a rage. Lou is cleaning up Daisy's body when Lou Sr. Has sent corrupt cop Officer Mike (David DeLao) on his payroll to attack her, but after fighting she manages to shoot him dead. Realising her father wants to kill her, Lou bludgeons the officer with a gun and makes her way to his manor. There, she encounters Beth who has learned about Lou's involvement with JJ's death and attacks her. Lou allows Beth to beat her before Beth stops and gives her Jackie's location. Lou frees Jackie and they embrace and make up. Lou tells her to run while she goes to confront her before he shoots her in the leg. Lou Sr. Reveals to his daughter that her mother is not dead but left due to them, Lou Sr. For his criminal business and Lou for helping him. Jackie arrives, having grown to a gigantic size, being enraged and empowered by her love for Lou. She pins Lou Sr. To the ground and Lou puts a gun in his mouth but she does not fire, leaving him to be arrested by the incoming police. The two girls grow into giants and run together through the clouds in the sky. The next morning, after returning to normal size, Lou and Jackie have hit the road and are driving through the desert. They hear a thumping from the back of the truck, and Lou realises Daisy is still alive. Lou drags her into a nearby field to strangle her to death while Jackie sleeps. Also starring Orion Carrington as O'Riley, Matthew Blood-Smyth as Dave, Keith Jardine as Chester, Jerry G. Angelo as Mikey, Mikandrew as Stoney Owen, and Hilary Fleming as Sharon. Stewart is terrific as the woman at the centre of everything, O'Brian is magnetic as the muscly drifter who falls in love with her, they have fantastic chemistry together, Harris (with his scary hair) is terrific as the creepy criminal father, there is good support from Franco, Malone and Baryshnikov, and director Glass is a great upcoming talent. It is a sizzling story of passion and a gritty drama, the bodybuilding and exercise scenes, as well as the lovemaking moments, are steamy and stylish, and the period detail is splendid, I will admit I found the ending (combining The Incredible Hulk and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman) rather strange, but as an overall film, it is a most watchable romantic crime thriller. Very good!
Review of Love Lies Bleeding
