Tag: Kristen Stewart

Haunt-Tober 2024 Day 8: Love Lies Bleeding

Posted on by Kstrouse

Haunt-tober 2024 is here and it’s time to dive into the macabre, the strange and the frightful during this beloved time! Join me as I spend the month discussing new and classic films. 

As a fan of Saint Maud I was really looking forward to her second feature. And, well, Rose Glass you slay me.

The film has sat with me and grown in favor with time and contemplation. What started as a stylish admiration has become a beloved favorite of 2024.

This pulpy thriller is firing on all cylinders with bloody shots and larger than life imagery.

And Ed Harris eats a bug. There’s that too.

Love Lies Bleeding is a combustive thriller that showcases its talented stars and expert direction. The costume and production design set a compelling stage for this romantic, violent tale to unravel.

Lou (Kristen Stewart) runs a small gym in a “seemingly” sleepy town. Her sister Beth (Jena Malone) is married to the violent JJ (James Franco) and she has an estranged relationship with her father Lou Sr (the always exceptional Ed Harris). When committed bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) shows up, and their fiery courtship begins, tragedy and revenge eventually ensue. This raw but might I even say – cheeky- flick sings at a register all its own.

source: A24

There is a captivating quality about Love Lies Bleeding that doesn’t waver and keeps itself tantalizingly alluring.

While the movie itself is provocative and gritty, thrilling and sexy, one would be hard pressed to say it holds anything back: yet I still felt the film had its secrets, its smirks, and winks. Its ending is sure to be polarizing, but feels at home here.

It happens to be one of my favorite Kristen Stewart performances because I feel there’s an unrelenting power to her character. She commands the screen, but never feels unsure or restrained. I loved that for her. Katy O’Brian is equally talented with a turn that goes through an intriguing metamorphosis. These two are magnetic with ample chemistry.

It has noir inspirations, feels like Thelma and Louise at times, and yet also feels very much like its own. A challenging conceit to capture on film these days. There’s also some body horror images that’ll stick with you.

Love Lies Bleeding is brazingly edgy. It feels like escape, like that rare intimacy, and the lengths some will go for love.

The passion in the film is felt in every beat. Not just as a call for more queer fronted stories, but within the filmmaking itself. A visceral entry, Glass has signified her place as one of the most exciting and unique filmmakers working today.

Stay tuned for more Haunt-Tober!

What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Crimes Of The Future (2022)

Posted on by Kstrouse

David Cronenberg has been a pretty significant voice in the horror scene for a while, and I’m always delighted when he creates something new. With Crimes of the Future, I’m happily able to say it’s something not only current but different from a lot of his previous work. And let’s be honest, it’s been a spell since his last feature.

This is a film that is ultimately going to be polarizing with audiences. It seems to be either too much, or not enough. For me, this was subdued in terms of the director, presented in a curiously woeful sensibility, that I ultimately dug but not without its surprises.

source: Neon

In the future, only a minimal amount of people feel pain. Human anatomy has also changed in the sense that our innards form without meaning. For some, that meaning is art. Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) and partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux) are performance artists, showcasing the live surgery of Saul’s newest creations. Of course, this is putting this, extremely lightly.

“Let us not be afraid to map the chaos inside.”

Saul is introduced to us in a bed that looks like a prop left over from an Aliens movie, and we are told he’s grown a new organ. Good news right? Even if it has no purpose in his body, it will be the star of a performance number, where one watches a surgery with a keen intrigue. It’s become a spectacle to the point where many others have outrageous deformities as an allure. You may have seen an image for the film which includes a man covered in ears. Well, if you haven’t, you can imagine it now. You won’t forget it either. It’s an inspired and intricate story that settles you into its narrative bones like flesh into a cavity.

At the department of registry for new organs, (Kristen Stewart), which, yes, sounds as ludicrous as it is, in the best possible way, is interested in Saul’s work. In ways, it seems he wills these new creations, which makes him even more fascinating. This film is compelling in the most unexpected ways. There are a lot of science fiction elements that are quite heady, but also resonant. It doesn’t matter if we are discussing an organ transplant as art, or as a real-life measure of mortality, Crimes of the Future is a contemplative take on the subject.

source: Neon

What unfolds is a melancholy imagining of bodily odds and ends. It’s a film that simultaneously feels old and new, as a futuristic embodiment it’s also directly tied lovingly into our cinematic past. The film fulfills in a lot of ways, as an homage to the artist and their creations with the dedication involved, sheer imagination, and also the concept of mortality. What does life look like?

Cronenberg is a master of his craft, and Crimes of the Future solidifies this. Our entire cast is at their best, ensuring that this experience of a film is delivered in the manner deserving of such an auteur. There’s sensuality at play here between the cast members, feeling often like a slow unfolding of prose rather than a feature, as their bodies and philosophical playings on our form come to pass.

The film is not without its frustrations and it’s one that I understand some may not fully be attached to. However, I felt it to be an exploration, one that seems mysterious and telling all at the same time in a way that is wholly original. This may not be the gore-fest you might expect, but it’s the strange, more introspective endeavor you deserve.

I’ve got to admit I was pretty enamored with this one. It was a no holds barred return to form opportunity that was seized with an instinctual, sexual-like curiosity. What can the human body do? What should it? A true visionary, Crimes of the Future sees Cronenberg at his most curious and morose in many years. One of the best of 2022 so far.

Crimes of the Future is now available on video on demand