Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
In her second feature, “Love Lies Bleeding,” she does something similar—but to different effect. The movie, shot from a script by Glass and Weronika Tofilska, is based on a good idea, a battle to reveal the hidden grip of a predatory small-town patriarch, but here, too, Glass’s reliance on genre conventions—in this case, those of neo-noir—prevents her from fully working out the narrative premise. The result is more entertaining this time, though, because Glass fashions the premise into such a clever, brisk, and twisty story.
Director Rose Glass’s 2020 breakout, low-budget horror Saint Maud quickly developed an impassioned following, heralded as the arrival of a new genre visionary.Love Lies Bleeding is showing at the Sundance film festival and will be released in US cinemas on 8 March, in Australian cinemas on 14 March, and in the UK on 19 April. Explore more on these topics.
