Love Lies Bleeding
The Rose Glass who made Saint Maud is not the same Rose Glass who made Love Lies Bleeding.
In one of the most significant and stunning leaps forward by a filmmaker over the past few decades, the writer/director quadruples down on the scattered memorable imagery from her narratively sparse feature debut and strings together one creative, confident visual after another in the service of a consistently engaging tale.
Collaborating with Weronika Tofilska on the script is likely somewhat responsible for the storytelling upgrade in this 1989-set sapphic love story, but Glass’ improvements on the technical front suggest an artist who’s been studying the greats and figuring out how to incorporate their techniques into her own distinct style.
It also helps that she’s working with such a gifted cast. Finally given a quality leading role, Kristen Stewart is magnificent as Lou, a prickly New Mexico gym manager with a heart of gold who falls hard for mysterious drifter Jackie (Katy O’Brian, The Mandalorian), an aspiring bodybuilder making her way Las Vegas for a competition.
Like fellow recent lesbian duo Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan in Drive-Away Dolls, Stewart and O’Brian have chemistry for days and it’s a pleasure watching them click. As their romance blossoms, the period bodybuilding imagery recalls The Iron Claw, but at times Love Lies Bleeding resembles Donnie Darko, ’90s David Lynch, and late-era David Cronenberg — all while still foremost feeling like Glass’ vision.
And what a gloriously gritty, grisly vision it is, wholly realized through convincing period detail, particularly on the production design, costume, and hair/makeup fronts. Along with Stewart’s greasy femme chop and O’Brian’s curly mop, Glass gifts viewers two iconic mullets — one on the dome of a hyper-scuzzy Dave Franco as Lou’s brother-in-law JJ, and the other wherever follicles still grow atop the skull of Lou’s crime lord father Lou Sr. (Ed Harris, devilishly acting like he’s back in A History of Violence).
These incredible hair choices reveal much about the people who choose to wear them, and when this appealing set-up builds to a moment of carnage that changes all of their lives, the lines between good and evil have been so clearly drawn that it’s natural to form allegiances and pray for the downfall of those who wish harm on our heroes.
However, there’s still plenty of room for surprises and Glass keeps us guessing, tastefully weaving in supernatural elements as steroids work their way through Jackie’s muscles and tossing in metaphorical sights that both make emotional sense in the moment and are still being unraveled a week after viewing.
Witnessing where these hypnotic twists and turns lead is an absolute joy and, three years after Glass’ career seemed D.O.A., tracking her next moves is suddenly essential business for anyone who loves imaginative trashy cinema.
Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Now playing at AMC River Hills 10, Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, Grail Moviehouse, and Regal BIltmore Grande.
(Photo: A24)
