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Love Lies Bleeding<\/strong> (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence and grisly images, sexual content, nudity, language throughout, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rose Glass\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Rose Glass and Weronika Tofilska\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Clint Mansell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Fordesman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 15, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kristen Stewart, Katy O\u2019Brian, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, Ed Harris.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I think it\u2019s time we finally gave Kristen Stewart the respect she deserves. Here we are 12 years removed from the Twilight movies and I still hear snide comments about her acting ability or lack thereof. Whenever I do, I always ask that person if they\u2019ve seen her in anything besides Twilight. The answer is usually no. I then tell them to check out her work in indie movies like Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper, Certain Women and Spencer. Any one of those serves as proof positive that Stewart can indeed act. We don\u2019t need to talk about Seberg. That was a fluke on so many levels.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Stewart\u2019s latest Love Lies Bleeding<\/strong> is another one for the win column. Directed by Rose Glass (Saint Maud), it\u2019s a gritty slice of neo-noir about love, murder and roid rage. Glass lays her scene in fair New Mexico in one of those small, shabby towns in the middle of nowhere circa 1989. One of its residents is Lou (Stewart), a gym manager living a solitary existence in a place where her family is notorious. Her father Lou Sr. (Harris, The Truman Show) is the local Mr. Big. His main venture is smuggling guns into Mexico. Lou\u2019s been estranged from him for quite some time even though he owns the gym where she works. The only person she\u2019s close to is her younger sister Beth (Malone, The Hunger Games movies) who\u2019s married to an abusive jerk named J.J. (Franco, The Disaster Artist) who looks like he could be kin to Joe Dirt with that mullet of his.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Lou\u2019s life takes a turn for the better and worse when she meets Jackie (O\u2019Brian, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), a drifter who hitchhikes into town on her way to a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas. She stops by Lou\u2019s gym to work out and the two ladies hit it off immediately. Generous soul that she is, Lou gives Jackie a place to stay while she\u2019s in town (after a night of hot sex, of course) and a large supply of steroids to which she becomes dangerously addicted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0ANYWAY, nobody ever said the path to true love was a smooth one. They get into an argument over a piece of information Jackie failed to disclose at the onset of their relationship. Then Lou\u2019s sister ends up in the hospital after being beaten by J.J. This is followed by a horrific (but deserved) act of violence by Jackie. Well, hello Ms. Roid Rage! Instead of panicking, Lou cleans up and helps her new girlfriend cover up the crime by disposing of the body. The problem is that she does it in a way that calls attention to her dad\u2019s illegal dealings. Obviously, Lou Sr. isn\u2019t happy about that. Also, there\u2019s a witness of sorts, a local girl named Daisy (Baryshnikov, Manchester by the Sea), who saw something that could tie the two to the crime. Hey, nobody ever said getting away with murder was easy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Love Lies Bleeding <\/strong>isn\u2019t your traditional noir film. It doesn\u2019t lean into the usual tropes like the femme fatale and hard-boiled detective. Glass takes it in unexpected directions. It zigs when you expect it to zag. And just when you think there\u2019s nowhere to go but straight to a predictable conclusion, Glass gets surreal on us. The ending will no doubt leave a few viewers scratching their heads so allow me to offer up this spoiler-free theory. It\u2019s Glass taking us inside the mind of Jackie, now a crazed steroid addict suffering from hallucinations. If you look at it that way, it kind of makes sense. I\u2019ll grant it\u2019s a bit OTT, but does anybody really want a conventional ending in a film that\u2019s anything but? \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Stewart confidently takes the lead as a young woman who\u2019s clearly used to cleaning up other people\u2019s messes. Note the film\u2019s opening scene showing Lou unclogging a toilet with her bare hands. It\u2019s important because it sets the stage for events to come- i.e. the aforementioned killing and another one later on. One gets the sense this isn\u2019t the first time she\u2019s cleaned up a crime scene or helped cover up a murder. ANYWAY, Stewart perfectly captures her character\u2019s ennui and unhappiness as she sleepwalks through life. That is, until she meets Jackie who drags her right back to familiar territory. In the role, O\u2019Brian is amazing. She imbues her character with equal parts allure and danger. Her volatility as she descends deeper and deeper into the pit of addiction is palpable. Her performance rates a great big \u201cWOW!\u201d Harris is wonderfully seedy as Lou Sr., a dangerous and manipulative individual with a particular disdain for loose ends.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I love the grimy aesthetic of Love Lies Bleeding<\/strong>. It perfectly augments the dark tone and pulpy storyline. The screenplay by Glass and Weronika Tofilskais intelligent, suspenseful and twisty. It can also be darkly funny at times although not on the level of last month\u2019s criminally overlooked Drive-Away Dolls. I\u2019d put Love Lies Bleeding<\/strong> in a class with Blood Simple and Red Rock West. It\u2019s that great! It\u2019s decidedly not for all tastes, but I personally find that those movies are the ones most worth checking out.<\/p>\r\n Love Lies Bleeding (2024)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence and grisly images, sexual content, nudity, language throughout, drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Rose Glass\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Rose Glass and Weronika Tofilska\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Clint Mansell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Fordesman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 15, 2024 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kristen Stewart, Katy O\u2019Brian, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, Ed Harris. 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