Jena Malone

LOVE LIES BLEEDING (2024)


A24 and Film4 bring us a noir thriller starring Kristen Stewart.

Stewart plays Lou, the manager of a gym where she meets and falls in love with the body builder Jackie, played with roided ferocity by Katy O’ Brian.
Unfortunately, Stewart’s family is as criminally unsavoury as it gets and things don’t go swimmingly for the two of them. 
That may be an understatement.

Tonally reminiscent of Red Rock West, The Last Seduction with a touch of U Turn and set in 1989 in New Mexico it has a 90’s feel to it. It is kinetic, exciting and raw.

Director Rose Glass follows up her excellent debut film Saint Maud, here again on writing and directing duties and giving us a taut thriller with some nasty characters and some connected to them by blood and circumstance. Switching genres with seeming ease, here she does steamy and sweaty thriller with skill. You can almost feel the heat coming through the screen via the Mexican setting and the chemistry between the two lovers.

Katy O' Brian and Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding

Katy O’ Brian and Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding

This is ostensibly a love story against all the odds and Stewart and O’ Brian convincingly play the lovers and as in most noirs they find themselves in sticky situations, mainly of their own doings.

We get a menacing Ed Harris, bald on top with long hair hanging to his sides, creeping up the joint playing a pretty messed up dude who loves insects and Dave Franco playing against type as the wife-beating brother-in-law of Stewart’s Lou, Jena Malone as Lou’s abused sister and special mention goes to Anna Baryshnikov (daughter of famed ballet dancer Mikhail) as the always doting on Lou, Daisy, who is absolutely brilliant. 

Everyone’s a winner, at least in the acting stakes.

Ed Harris in Love Lies Bleeding

Ed Harris in Love Lies Bleeding

A24 continues to deliver films outside the mainstream and thank goodness for them.

On the surface, this film travels well-worn roads but having a female couple as the main lovers bucks the usual trend and gives us a satisfying queer thriller or queer noir if you will, not seen at this level since the Wachowski’s brilliant Bound.

Rose Glass delivers a very entertaining thriller with some unexpected flourishes that takes the viewer on a journey that is definitely not the norm.
Much much more power to her for that.

See it at the cinema now.
104 Minutes

INHERENT VICE (2014)

IV POSTER

Set in 1970, private investigator Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello is visited by his ex-girlfriend who asks him to look into a possible sting operation on her current real estate mogul boyfriend by his wife and her lover and so, gets embroiled in a tangled web of secrets, Nazis, crazy dentists and tightly wound police men.

I like Paul Thomas Anderson and he is one of the few directors whose films I will definitely watch and always look forward to them.

Inherent Vice is very enjoyable, as complicated as may be; Anderson steeps us in this L.A. noir world that is unusually bright for a Noir film.

Adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s book of the same name, this is a journey through the complex world of a private detective, his ex-girlfriend, her housing mogul boyfriend and an array of weird and wonderful characters.

I haven’t read the book yet but will be doing so very soon.

The great Joaquin Phoenix plays the P.I., Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello whose penchant for the greener type of smoking infuses the film with a heady haziness that is a lot of fun once you accept it for what it is. The audience is mostly always on the same page as Doc, so the ride is as surprising to him as it is to us.

The cinematography by Robert Elswit (Anderson’s regular lenser) is stunning, filled with beautifully composed shots. He recently shot the fantastic Nightcrawler that is also set in L.A. mostly at night whereas Inherent Vice is filled with the L.A. sunshine.

This has the hallmarks of a cult film; there will be midnight screenings for the fans. It is not a film that gen pop will willingly go to, it’s too convoluted for most viewers who like everything neatly tied up and explained but for the adventurous amongst you, this will be a treat.

Anderson was introduced to me, like most of us via the superb Boogie Nights and he followed this with his opus, Magnolia. I went back and watched Hard Eight (cut to ribbons by the studio) which was an enjoyable mess (director’s cut anytime sooon?) and then Punch Drunk Love followed by There Will be Blood and The Master. All of these contain quality storytelling and although I had problems with There Will Be Blood (Daniel Day-Lewis’ incredible performance overshadowing the narrative) Anderson’s oeuvre is filled with incredible performances and always-interesting film-making.

Katherine Waterson (Sam’s daughter) plays the ethereal, Shasta Fay Hepworth and delivers a performance worthy of note; she literally lays herself bare both physically and emotionally. She is an interesting actor whose choices and skills are given free reign here.

The supporting cast are all excellent; Josh Brolin as the angry policeman, Bigfoot, Joanna Newsom as the film’s earth mother/narrator, Sortilège, Martin Short as the unhinged dentist, Dr Rudy Blatnoyd, Hong Chau as the masseur/prostitute, Jade, Eric Roberts as the real estate mogul and boyfriend of Shasta, Mickey Wolfmann, Serena Scott Thomas as his wife, Sloane, Michael K Williams as Tariq Khalil, Owen Wilson as the musician, Coy Harlingen and Benicio Del Toro as Doc’s lawyer amongst many very talented others.

Paul Thomas Anderson has always loved actors and he is definitely an actor’s director.
Special mention should go to Jonny Greenwood for creating a beautiful soundtrack.

This is a film for cineastes out there, those with an appreciation for all things cinema and I, for one, will be re-watching this at some point.

4/5

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