Love Lies Bleeding
This is just the latest in a long series of roles where Stewart continues to (successfully) distance herself from her uber-mainstream "Twilight" days. Even though she is still very much a strikingly beautiful, A-list movie star, she seems much more at home playing outcasts and quiet loners, inhabiting characters with her own real-life anxious tics and awkward speech patterns, creating an unsettling aura of nervous tension that feels at odds with her level of fame. "Love Lies Bleeding" is the latest example of Stewart leaning into those qualities to great effect, matched perfectly with a script designed to get the most out of her uniquely weird energy.
If you've seen writer/director Ross Glass' wonderfully unhinged debut film "Saint Maud" (2019), you'll know she already has quite a knack for viscerally intense storytelling that doesn't shy away from the ugliness and violence that results from obsession. In the case of "Love Lies Bleeding," it's Lou (Stewart), a reclusive small-town gym manager, that instantly gets infatuated with Jackie (Katy O'Brian), a young woman who is rolling through town as she trains for a bodybuilding contest in Las Vegas. Even though we're in 1989, it could just as easily be today, set in one of those familiar, middle-of-nowhere towns covered in a thin layer of dirt and sleaze, where there isn't much else to do but get into trouble. Lou and Jackie have instant chemistry and quickly get physical, as the camera focuses on Jackie's fit body and rippling muscles that strain and bulge in increasingly superheroic proportions.
Their happiness doesn't last too long. Lou tries to support Jackie's bodybuilding ambitions by introducing her to various steroids that she is able to get on the sly from various gym goers, causing Jackie to start acting erratically as she becomes more and more addicted. We are also slowly introduced to Lou's family, led by her father (Ed Harris), a local crime lord that owns most of the town, including not only the gym where she works, but also the gun range where Katy ends up getting a temporary job. Lou isn't close to her father anymore after some initially unspecified drama, but she does love her sister Beth (Jena Malone), who suffers under her violent redneck stereotype husband JJ (a mulleted Dave Franco).
It's clear that Lou's father is disappointed she isn't going into the family business, as there is clearly a level of respect for her intelligence that he doesn't feel for almost everyone else he interacts with. Harris, in a memorable Crypt Keeper wig, is a grizzled, wizened verteran of crime that doesn't suffer fools, channeling years of exasperation into every glance or sigh. He is clearly dangerous, and even familial connections will stretch so far. Things really take off when JJ disappears after putting Beth in the ER with a savage beating, causing Katy to want to show her love for Lou (through a steroidal fog) by taking matters into her own hands. These actions (highlighted by a moment of gasp-inducing violence) cause Katy to get trapped in the machinations of Lou's father, which means Lou has to confront her father and the revelations of their shared past in order to rescue Katy.
It's a fairly straightforward thriller on paper, but the script cleverly conceives of logical ways to put Katy and Lou in an increasingly smaller box with little to no room to operate. Just when you think you know where things are headed, Glass puts in a zig of a twist or a zag of shocking gore, providing that rare feeling that just about anything could (and does) happen. The style and camerawork is certainly elevated, but not so much that it distracts from what's going on; this is an ugly, filthy world, and Glass isn't interested in dressing any of that up. Even the wonderful score (from Clint Mansell) adds to the overall atmosphere without being overbearing.
It's easy to root for Lou and Katy, even as they continue to make spectacularly bad decisions. The movie wants you to see Katy the way Lou does: not just physically strong and sexy, but an innocent caught up in things beyond her control, someone that wouldn't seem to need protection but still needs to be saved. It's a tightrope that is just about walked successfully, with just enough emotional connections formed in the quieter first half to carry us through the wilder parts later on. The dynamic between Lou and her father is also a fascinating discovery, allowing Stewart and Harris to face off like two classic 90s action heroes.
Like in "Saint Maud," Glass uses a few bold, reality-shattering moments that might seem a little ridiculous in the grounded world of the movie, but serve to further show us how Lou sees Katy. The movie's climax is by far the biggest surreal swing, and it will certainly have you talking when you leave the theater, feeling a little worn out and confused, but mostly satisfied. There might even be a slightly empty feeling once the credits roll, but it's a lot like the best thrill rides at an amusement park: it's the joy of the breathtaking, pulse-pounding journey that really matters.
