Love Lies Bleeding: Movie Review

In this fun queer romp with elements of fantasy and road movie classics that I won’t insult you by naming we get under the skin of a typically world weary Kristen Stewart (a grimy dead end gym employee called Lou) and Katy O’Brian as Jackie, a passing through drifter that’s proud owner of a hugely ripped body. She’s en-route to a muscles competition in Las Vegas. And she’s really rather beautiful.

The two fall in love whilst carnage plays out in their lives. Wife beating, drug dealing, revenge killings, and so on mean that the movie is peered with sub-Tarantino violence, some black humour, some meta moments and the possibility of Jackie turning green.

It’s not A24’s greatest film and it’s not Kristen Stewart’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good.

It is.

It’s beautifully shot with quite a dark grading and it’s hot and sweaty throughout, reflecting the grime of where they live in middle America (it’s actually filmed in New Mexico).

A24 (along with Film 4 here in the UK) make challenging, arty, but approachable films, this is another of them. It might not hit the heights of Mia Goth’s movies but it’s fine fare.

The whole queer aspect of the movie could be its raison detre but I liked how it was just there, not flag flying, not political. It added great value to the movie.

The scene where Kristen Stewart is regurgitated/birthed by mouth is particularly amusing and noteworthy.

Kristen Stewart has to be applauded, not just for this but for most of her work which has moved her a million miles from Twilight (Kerching , job done) She is a very fine actor and should be building a war chest of Oscars. Not for this one. But I thought her Diana was extraordinary.

The Old Oak: Movie Review

I just love Ken Loach movies.

He is a one man opposition party to whoever runs this country, but most especially when the Tories are wreaking havoc.

In this film he has a triple attack on racism, poverty and immigration.

As usual, he employs a cast of largely amateur actors, real people, in the North (Durham area this time) and they have grievances.

A run down pit village is being repopulated with Syrian refugees and the largely unemployed and bitter ex mining community do not like the fact that these “Rag heads” are getting access to their benefits and attention of local government and volunteers.

The action centres jon an almost decrepit community pub called The Old Oak. Its manager, our hero, TJ Ballantyne (played by ex-fireman Dave Turner, a Loach regular), is struggling to keep the pub afloat with a small band of bitter and twisted ex miners as locals, racist to the core they resent TJ’s apparent favouring of the new Syrian community that is adding richness to their village.

The movie plays out in a fairly typical Loach cadence. Highs and lows, humour and pathos, atrocious behaviour and acts of great human kindness.

The script is good (by Loach’s regular Paul Laverty) if a little predictable and sometimes a touch fantastical, but that doesn’t matter. Loach’s objectives are clear and the haters will say it’s just left wing propaganda. In a way it is. It needs to be because no-one else is doing it. But Loach draws such humanity from his mixed ability cast that you simply cannot fail to love it.

It sits alongside a canon of work that is remarkable: I Daniel Blake (his rant against the benefits system), Sorry We Missed You (his rant against zero hours contracts), Looking For Eric (Cantona as a postman), Sweet Sixteen (the movie that launched Martin Compston’s career), My Name is Joe (Bitter and brutal observation on alcoholism with Gary Lewis in career-high form), Raining Stones (his polemic against the underground labouring/work system), Riff Raff, Poor Cow and, of course our beloved Kes.

What a director. This is just another solid, enjoyable, moving piece of work from a national institution.

Long live Sir Ken.