Evocative and provocative, this is a real crowd-pleaser
Visually arresting, unsettling and downright nightmare-inducing, British writer-director Rose Glass’ debut Saint Maud was far and away the most-effective horror movie of Covid-ravaged 2020.
From the atmospheric score to the clever, sometimes claustrophobic framing, off-kilter camera angles and sometimes haunting imagery, the tale of a fervently religious private carer who becomes fixated on saving her patient’s soul is a masterclass in character and tension building.
Never has a bubbling pot of tomato soup seemed more menacing, while there are body horrors that would make even David Cronenberg blanch and a griminess and grimness that leave a mark.
But despite being double Baftanominated, Saint Maud bypassed cinemas here, eventually surfacing as an online rental a full 20 months after it debuted at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival.
No such mistake is being made with Glass’ follow-up. Instead, Love Lies Bleeding has hit Kiwi cinemas just over 10 weeks after making a splash at Sundance.
While as evocative and provocative as its predecessor, it’s also a very different kind of movie.
A heady mix of A History of Violence, Drive, Killer Joe and Thelma and Louise (while also making one lament the unlikelihood of the similarly themed Jonathan Majors drama Magazine Dreams ever getting a cinematic release), this sometimes lurid, occasionally surreal 1989-set “romantic-thriller” at times borders on sensory overload, as cinematographer Ben Fordesman captures sweat-soaked bodies, muscles and nipples, while Clint Mansell’s (Moon, Black Swan) soundtrack both underscores the action and ensures the audience remains on edge from first to last frame.
However, it’s in combination with the twists and turns of Glass and co-writer Weronika Tofilska’s story that these elements really pack a punch.
When we first meet Kristen Stewart’s Lou, she’s attempting to unclog a rival for Trainspotting’s scuzziest toilet in the world, while fending off the persistent advances of the feckless and seemingly scatterbrained Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov).
Eventually managing to shutter Crater Gym without incident, Lou retreats to her home, where she lights a cigarette while listening to a smoking- cessation tape.
The following evening, though, someone new catches her eye in the gym. Jackie (Katy O’Brian) impresses with her form – and confidence. Lou listens intently to Jackie’s plans to attend a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas.
Smitten, she offers to help “enhance” her chances with some chemical assistance, but is somewhat unnerved to discover Jackie has already landed a job at the one place in town Lou would hope she’d avoid – her father Lou Sr’s (Ed Harris) gun club.
Tension between them rises even higher when it becomes clear during a meal out that Jackie and Lou’s abusive, oily brother-in-law JJ (Dave Franco) have also had a close encounter.
As the animosity bubbles over, it’s Lou’s sister Beth (Jena Malone) who bears the brunt, winding up in hospital with injuries clearly caused by an angry JJ. But while
Lou Sr advises Lou to respect her sibling’s wishes and not do anything hasty, Jackie is determined to make things right.
What follows is a wild ride involving a brilliantly realised (sound and) vision of the increasing effects of sustained steroid use, the importance of having portable floor coverings and the best pregnant pause to grace the big screen in years.
There are jump scares and jean shorts, bad hair and buried secrets, as Glass ramps the tension up to 11, while delivering plenty of dark laughs along the way.
But for all the cinematic magic and trickery, it’s the cast that really sells Love. Stewart (Personal Shopper, Crimes of the Future) again proves why she’s one of the most intriguing and eclectic actors of her generation, while Franco and Harris are effective in their villainous roles and O’Brian (The Mandalorian) is a revelation, as the increasingly complicated – and compromised – Jackie.
Not for the faint-hearted, Love Lies Bleeding is best viewed in a full cinema, as late at night as possible. If only midnight movie sessions were still a thing …