Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: LOVE LIES BLEEDING [Sundance Film Festival 2024 - Park City, Utah]
The essence of a thriller/noir is based in the danger and the lust of either power, sex or both that motivates the characters. With "Love Lies Bleeding" [Midnight], the texture is fueled by guns, bodybuilding and roids, but undeniably from a lesbian perspective. The first half of the movie really sells what the possibilities are. Katy O'Brien takes on the role of Jackie, a bodybuilder obsessed and primal and yet divisive and empathetic in what she really believes herself to be. Kristen Stewart plays Lou, a girl controlled and aware but living in a hell all her own. She just wants a slice of happiness with Jackie but Jackie is too wild while still disciplined to fit into her life (and yet she tries to cram her in). It is a very uneven balance and that is part of the point. it works for the most part since it has an essence of say "True Romance". It also has the initial look of a Tony Scott film ("Domino" comes to mind). This is about two lost people hoping one can save the other while both of them are literally hanging each other all the time and yet can't give up. What sells the danger of the picture though is the undeniable Ed Harris as Lou Sr. He brings such a menace in a calm way and the hair and skull silouette simply sells it. Dave Franco has a brief but interesting play as JJ, husband to an almost completely unrecognizable Jena Malone as Beth, his wife. This movie is seemingly about disappearing into plain sight. Anna Baryshnikov as Daisy throws a wrench into the proceedings but oddly enough as Daisy, she almost plays as a drugged out Elle Fanning.
The humor of the film is undeniable but the thrust of the darkness, lust and perhaps a little bit of regret flitters through when it really needs to (especially in quiet moments with O'Brien where she has no one to turn to and can't look in a mirror). Her essence of wanting to smile even though the thought of the pain lingers below the surface is palpatable. Stewart's job here is supporting O'Brian as Jackie who is a force of will who just cannot find her way out of whatever she does even if she does for the right reasons. Lou understands the craft of the life she is in and the essence of her choices (and Stewart's embodiment of her) is what really grounds the film. Stewart wants Lou to succeed no matter the circumstance and her tenacity rings true even as Jackie as a character won't listen and spins out of control. This all works exceptionally well and still lives in a believable but somewhat roided world. But it never loses certain aspects of perception and knowing where it exists. However in the final scene it does unravel because of a story decision that jumps the shark and deflates what we have seen. It tends to wreck the Coda in many ways because the earned element of what actually happened in the film is lost. "Love Lies Bleeding" is 3/4 of a great movie with some great style, music and exceptional performances but with an ending belief problem that tends to dismantle itself in a way. B-
By Tim Wassberg
