LOVE LIES BLEEDING

I went in to this with low expectations and came out pleasantly satisfied. Rose Glass’ sophomore feature didn’t break any new ground but it’s certainly a solid popcorn movie. I think some people are eager to make this out to be something more than it is due to the sexuality within the film but at the end of the day it’s nothing more than a fun crime story. And that’s totally fine. Contrary to what a lot of critics try to push nowadays, some movies exist for entertainment and/or a momentary escape. Everything isn’t some radical or political statement. On a surface level, Love Lies Bleeding rests somewhere between the cinema of Nicolas Winding Refn and a more polished/mimicked iteration of early Gregg Araki. I was eager to compare this to stuff like Wild at Heart & Thelma & Lousie but Glass herself made a point to avoid tapping in to those films. Also, making that kind of comparison is like calling something that’s slightly weird; “Lynchian”. It’s cheap. 

Speaking of cheap and things being incorrectly labeled as “Lynchian” – there is a shot of a dark road at night in Love Lies Bleeding so I’m sure some critics jumped at the chance to compare it to Lost Highway.

Because so much of the DNA and ingredients of [Love Lies Bleeding] is so easily connectable to so many other films — Wild at Heart, Thelma and Louise, True Romance, anything with two lovers with guns and murder in extremity — I was wary about not wanting it to [revisit them] – Rose Glass, Hollywood Reporter

At this point, a movie like Thelma & Louise is so popular that you can’t avoid some type of subconscious influence but there’s no unique connection between the two films outside of the desert and two women kind of on the run…

I've never seen Thelma and Louise but that's so famous that even if you haven't seen it, you sort of feel like you have, so I'm sure it has an influence somewhere – Rose Glass, Theskinny.co.uk

Again – this feels like it was birthed from someone trying to pay homage to Gregg Araki with way more budget and a bit less grit. That may sound a little harsh but even with criticisms like that, I really did enjoy Love Lies Bleeding overall. I couldn’t find any interviews where Glass name-drops Araki as a source of inspiration but some of the similarities in the movie, intentional or not, are undeniable…

Doom Generation / Love Lies Bleeding

Doom Generation / Love Lies Bleeding

While the basic romance/crime story has been done before to some degree, Glass throws in things like female bodybuilding and random moments of surreality to try and stand out from other sweaty cigarette stenched crime capers (if you’re looking for a more direct comparison, Love Lies Bleeding is definitely a first cousin to something like Bound). There are a handful of scenes in this movie that seem a little random for the sake of being random but I’m honestly not mad at that.

This story is set in the 80’s and for someone not even born in that decade, Glass does an excellent job of not falling in to the trap of dressing all the characters up in neon windbreakers & rayban sunglasses. It seems like whenever a filmmaker wants to set a film in the 80s, the first thing they do is make everything neon & cheesy. The 80’s was not all MTV, Boy George & Madonna. I was born in 1981. My memory of the 80’s was a lot of cigarette smoke, ugly carpets (that trapped in all the cigarette smoke) and the color palettes were often browns & oranges as apposed to neon pinks & yellows. Again – Love Lies Bleeding has a bit too much sheen for a seedy 1980’s Reno, Nevada crime story, but there is a genuine attempt at trying to capture the 80s. The smells, the ashtrays, the faded jeans, etc…

The small handful of cinematic references that Glass openly pulls from are also a bit outside of the box. Instead of the aforementioned Thelma & Louise or Wild At Heart, Glass pulls from sources like Paul Verhoeven and 1960s B-movies. These influences are even more interesting to me because her first film, Saint Maud, pulled from folks like Bergman & Polanski (a lot of people claimed there was Tarkovsky in Saint Maud but according to Glass, she wasn’t very familiar with his work at the time).

Showgirls was just one of those films that I remember watching when I was probably too young to watch it quite late one night on TV - Rose Glass, The Hollywood Reporter

Showgirls / Love Lies Bleeding

Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman / Love Lies Bleeding

Contrary to what one might assume, the Refn similarities lie in the music and the random spurts of violence and not the fascination with trying to replicate the 80’s as some sort of Andy Warhol/David Lachapelle/pop art fever dream.

A FEW WORDS ON JANET PLANET

For those that don’t know - I’m not only from western Massachusetts but I’m a former classmate of Janet Planet director Annie Baker (not trying to name-drop. I just think it would be odd to not mention that). I don’t think my opinion on this movie holds more weight than anyone else who’s seen it, but I think I know the basic material more than the average person. Not the deeper coming of age story of an 11 year old girl and the close relationship with her quietly eccentric mother. But all the ancillary elements are very near & dear to my heart. It’s impossible for me to not feel nostalgic watching this. The first time I saw it I spent half the time pointing out to all the very real places I grew up in & around. Amherst is a very unique place. I know everyone with some kind of hometown pride always says that about wherever they’re from but people that aren’t even from Amherst that have spent time there have confirmed that it’s unlike anywhere else. It’s incredibly liberal (sometimes laughably liberal when compared to the rest of the world) and sometimes pretentious but well-meaning at the end of the day. I couldn’t imagine growing up anywhere else. Amherst is where I learned about weird movies and music which is a huge part of who I am today. I can confirm that this movie captures the vibe of early 90’s Western, Mass. The wooded areas, the architecture, the clothes, the aging hippies — all of it. 

It’s just nice to see specific landmarks that you grew up with in a movie directed by someone that’s actually from where the story takes place. If you’re from places like Toronto, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago or New York City - it’s fairly common to see familiar landmarks show up in movies. That’s not the case when you’re from Western Massachusetts. We’re usually an afterthought or incorrectly attached to the other side of the state. So much of our personality is based on telling non-new England folks that we aren’t from Boston or that we’re different from Boston people. …At least that’s how it was for me post-high school (to be clear - we are very different from the people on the eastern side of the state in that we’re less aggressive and aren’t as angry).

Mount Pollox Conservation Area, Amherst Massachusetts

The parking lot of the Hampshire Mall, Hadley Massachusetts

Tobacco barn in Hadley

Masonic Street Mural, Northampton Massachusetts 

A huge chunk of this movie's personality is the result of watching & appreciating a wide range of cinema and paying homage to it. I mean that in a good way. There’s lots of visual references in this. It wouldn’t be out of line to program Janet Planet on a double bill with something like Fanny and Alexander or Welcome To The Dollhouse (a film that co-stars Amherst alumni; Eric Mabius). Annie Baker subconsciously borrowed from movies in that lane. That’s actually what I liked most about her film. If you’re familiar with this blog then this shouldn't come as a surprise. That's all I seem to care about with movies these days. This is very much her own unique vision but she’s been very open about her cinematic inspirations. I caught some immediately without having to do any research. Others I learned about through reading interviews and listening to Q&As.
Some of the comparisons below might seem a little forced or vague, but I think I captured the ones that are most key/important:

Watching it gets you in touch with all the times you've felt horribly depressed and also overwhelmed by the beauty and color of everything around you - Janet Planet, Criterion

Documenteur / Janet Planet

I’ve seen this movie [Fanny and Alexander] more times than I can count. I think it’s the best movie about being a kid ever made. It’s a fairy tale and a nightmare and a totally believable portrayal of a Swedish family in Uppsala at the turn of the twentieth century, all at the same time. It has always reminded me of one of my favorite novels, Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks. It’s also a movie about the weird magic of theater . . . Both the opening sequence and the reading from Strindberg at the end kill me. And the way Bergman shoots inanimate objects . . . The statues and the toy angels and the clocks and the puppets and the lamps . . . They’re all watching Alexander, the whole movie - Annie Baker, Criterion

Fanny and Alexander / Janet IPlanet

Fanny and Alexander / Janet IPlanet

Fanny and Alexander / Janet Planet

I saw this when I was twenty-five or twenty-six and really confused about my work. I was so discouraged and had stopped writing, and this movie made me excited to start working again. Akerman was doing something with pace and composition and time that I'd always wanted to do but had been too chicken to acknowledge or go toward. Watching this made me realize that you should make the kind of art you want to see, which sounds kind of obvious but was a big revelation to me at the time - Annie Baker, criterion

Jeanne Dielman... / Janet Planet

Jeanne Dielman... / Janet Planet

growing up in Amherst, Mass., in the '80s and '90s, you see a lot of political puppet theater - Annie Baker, The New York Times

The Meadows Green / Janet Planet

The Meadows Green / Janet Planet

The filmmaker I would say my D.P. and my editor and I discussed the most was Maurice Pialat, especially his film "L'Enfance Nue." Another movie that is very important to me is [Victor] Erice's "Spirit of the Beehive." We also talked about [Abbas Kiarostami's films about children, and my sound designer Paul and I talked a lot about [Apichatpong] Weerasethakul, and went to see "Tropical Malady" together - Annie Baker, The New Yorker

The Spirit Of The Beehive / Janet Planet

The Spirit Of The Beehive / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

L'enfance Nue / Janet Planet

Ten / Janet Planet

Tropical Malady / Janet Planet

Uncle Boonmee / Janet Planet

RAP WORLD

I know this might not come off as the greatest endorsement or sell of a film, but Connor O’malley’s Rap World is all the good stuff from a Harmony Korine film (Trash Humpers & Julien Donkey Boy specifically), reshaped by someone with a much better sense of humor & creativity and zero cynicism (it is my personal opinion that Connor O’malley is one of the funniest and most talented people working today). This is absolutely the kind of movie that will be co-opted by the ironic vice magazine folks that like things ironically but I don’t think they were ever the audience in mind for this. I’m a fan of most Harmony Korine films but a lot of times his work comes off like it’s made by someone pretentious that thinks they’re bored and better than everyone. There’s nothing boring or pretentious or “ironic” about Rap World. It’s is loud, chaotic, energetic, disorganized, schizophrenic and I loved every moment of it. I know this sounds cliché but Rap World has that DIY spirit of picking up a camera, getting a small intimate crew of folks together and just creating something. That something is the darkly comical found footage tale about a group of suburban friends trying to record a rap album over a 24 hour period. And much like the car race in Two Lane Blacktop, the recording of the rap album seems to be least important thing in the story even thought it’s (supposedly) the focal point. Our wanna-be rappers find themselves getting distracted from the recording process at every turn...

Trash Humpers / Rap World

Trash Humpers / Rap World

Julien Donkey-Boy / Rap World

 

Rap World has the perfect amount of nostalgia that doesn’t work against it. Underneath the chaotic humor & alt-comedy, this film pokes fun a at very specific niche demographic that I’m very familiar with – underground suburban hip-hop fans. While the characters in the film are all white, small town suburban underground rap fans come in all races & genders. They spent a lot of time on internet rap message boards getting their hip-hop history lessons from the wrong outlets and always had a warped sense of reality. No offense, and I am a fan of these artists, but think early 2000’s anticon/sage francis/rawkus/def jux message boards and online battle rap forums. I’m all for poking fun at these folks no matter how mean-spirited that may sound. 

The major difference here is that those internet message board rap fans were mostly teenagers while the characters in Rap World are full on adults (one is pushing 30 years old).

This archetype still exists. Again, not to be mean, but given that a lot of Connor O’Malley’s comedy is internet/youtube-based, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was poking fun at recent stuff like this:

 

Krispy Kreme is another possible reference point (although part of me thinks this whole persona is a "bit")

Krispy Kreme / Rap World

 I'm pretty certain this movie sets out to be uncomfortable & alienating to some. Connor O'Malley isn't always the easiest comic to digest but fans of his work will feel rewarded watching this. I certainly did.

ONE MORE SHOT

One More Shot joins that elite list of sequels that surpasses it’s predecessor. I wouldn’t exactly call it Godfather Part 2 or Aliens, or The Empire Strikes Back, but it is better than One Shot (2021). And to be clear – One Shot is great. It wound up on my best of 2021 list (and this will more than likely be on my best of 2024). But where the first film may have a had what some would consider "slow moments", One More Shot is just non-stop in the best way possible.

Thanks to films like Extraction, the newer Mad Max films and the John Wick series, there’s a place for fast pace action films that take little no breaks. Even when punches aren’t being thrown and bullets aren’t flying, the tension in One More Shot is so intense. 

One More Shot / Extraction

There's a few tense moments early on in the film that borrow heavily from a scene in Children Of Men...

Children Of Men / One More Shot

Children Of Men / One More Shot

Tension is the unsung hero of this film. Director James Nunn pulls from his influences like Michael Mann & Steven Spielberg all throughout the film…

It was actually watching JURASSIC PARK in the cinema when I was 9 years old and I just fell in love with the idea of making movies and telling stories and bringing things to life - James Nunn, easternfilmfans.co.uk

Jurassic Park /
One More Shot

Heat / One More Shot

One More Shot plays out like the most basic yet fun video game with multiple levels. It picks up literally seconds after the first part. There’s no pause or intermission. We’re thrown right in to the thick of it in the opening scene. The hostage from the first film has been secured but there’s another “level” our hero Scott Adkins must go through to get him and his family to safety. In addition to a lot more action and intense moments, the film adds Michael Jai White to the cast as the main villain.
While White’s addition to the film is sparse, it’s still the high point. One More Shot succeeds because they use the formula of a lot of older action films where we get the final one-on-one showdown between the main protagonist and the main antagonist that’s been teased throughout the film. Michael Jai White is a varsity letterman when it comes carrying the final fight on his shoulders (see Skin Trade & Blood and Bone for further examples of this). And at this point, White & Adkins hove so much history & on-screen chemistry that it’s probably impossible for those two to choreograph a disappointing fight scene. White & Adkins use a combination of modern MMA (that they both helped popularize) from the John Wick films and the early MMA fighting style found in Bruce Lee films…

John Wick 3 / One More Shot

The Chinese Connection / One More Shot

The beauty of One More Shot is that you don’t actually have to watch One Shot first in order to enjoy things or know what's going on. I strongly suggest watching One Shot because it’s very good, but I almost prefer folks watch the sequel first and then treating One More Shot like a prequel.

THE SUBSTANCE: SUPPLIMENTAL MATERIAL

 

Carrie / The Substance

Here are a few more comparisons that didn't make it in to my original post about The Substance. Click here to read my initial thoughts and to see the original comparisons I made. Also make sure to click here to see Coralie Fargeatt's Letterboxd interview where she breaks down some of her visual influences from The Thing to The Hunchback Of Notre Dame...

Pulp Fiction / The Substance

The Thing / The Substance

The Thing / The Substance

Eraserhead / The Substance

Robocop / The Substance

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame / The Substance

The Fly / The Substance

Naked Lunch / The Substance

Shivers / The Substance

Tetsuo: The Ironman / The Substance

WELCOME TO NEW YORK

This was originally published for cutprintfilm.com back in March of 2015. But since the site/publication has apparently vanished - I'm posting it here with a few updates. Enjoy...

Normally I'd roll my eyes at someone making a film about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case for fear that it would come off as either pandering or opportunistic (there was a lackluster episode of Law & Order: SVU that was loosely based on the Kahn/Diallo case). But Abel Ferrara is someone who knows about scummy people. I'm willing to hear what he has to say about this. From Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant to Chris Penn in The Funeral, Ferrara has crafted some majorly dysfunctional/fucked-up characters. Dominique fits in seamlessly within the cinema of Abel Ferrara.

The Dominique Strauss-Kahn case was also very much a New York City story and Abel Ferrara is an unofficial representative/voice of NYC (75% of his films are set in the big apple). If anything, this film serves as two giant middle fingers, courtesy of the people of New York City, to the privileged/entitled Kahn who got away Scot-free. And given Gerard Depardieu's current personal beef with his homeland of France, I imagine it didn't take much convincing for him to take part in a film like this.

 

While Welcome To New York is obviously inspired by very real events, it's only loosely based in the same way Gus Van Sant's Last Days was loosely based on the (real) last days of Kurt Cobain (names are changed, speculations are made, etc).

In the film, Gerard Depardieu plays “Devereaux” - a French politician (like Strauss-Kahn) whose in New York City for 24 hours to visit his soon-to-be married daughter and to have sex with as many prostitutes as possible before his departure back to France. When orgies and threesomes don’t seem to be enough to please Devereaux, he forces himself on a nameless hotel maid who just so happened to enter the room at the wrong time (a few hours later he's arrested and booked for rape). For the rest of the film Ferrara explores the judicial system that surrounds the case as well as the strained relationship between Deveraux and his no-nonsense wife “Simone” (Jacqueline Bisset). Welcome To New York is also very much a post-”Occupy Wall Street” story as we see the special treatment wealthy people get when they stand trial for a serious crime. Although Devereaux is charged with rape and has to spend a night in jail, he eventually gets to stay on house arrest in a swanky luxury suite. Seem fair to you?

 

Between The Blackout (1997) & 4:44 – Last Day On Earth (2011), Ferrara's work has become quietly experimental in terms of editing (Napoli Napoli Napoli), structure (New Rose Hotel) and even in some of the performances (Forest Whitaker in Mary). At first glance one might find Welcome To New York to be more of a straightforward film but just beneath the surface there's quite a bit of experimentation going on. The chemistry/interactions between Depardieu & Bisset come off incredibly improvised (mostly in a good way) rather than scripted. There's also a slightly playful sequence towards the end of the film that looks more like something out a post-Tree of Life Terrence Malick film rather than a Ferrara film (voice-over narration and all).

 

My only concern with Welcome To New York is that no matter how much of an obnoxious piece of shit spoiled brat Devereaux is, I still get the sense that Ferrara wants us to have some kind of understanding and/or sympathy (although I could be wrong). Ferrara gives us a polarizing/introspective scene where Devereaux is explaining himself to a psychiatrist and at the start of the film he's even referred to as the “protagonist”. Now...protagonist definitely doesn’t mean “the good guy”, but 9 times out of 10 the protagonist is in fact the good guy in a story. Using a term that's often associated with a “good guy” to describe a person like Devereaux/Strauss-Kahn (when there are so many other more accurate/less flattering labels to use) is a little problematic in my book. But at the end of the day it would take a special kind of sociopath to see Devereaux's side.

For those of you who weren’t satisfied with the exploration of privilege & greed in Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street, Welcome To New York might just satisfy the needs that Wolf didn’t fulfill (it certainly did for me as I found the tone of Wolf to be incredibly irresponsible).

Welcome To New York also has a transparent/existential quality in that certain aspects of this film mirror Gerard Depardieu's real life. At the start of the film we get a quick scene of a fictionalized interview where Gerard plays himself and talks about what drew him to portray “Devereaux”/Strauss-Kahn. Derpardieu also seems to have no shame in his glutenous qualities in real life. Not only does he seem to not care about his weight gain over the years, but just recently he bragged to the press about the insane amount of wine he drinks on a daily basis (and I don’t mean to bring up his weight to be petty or to poke fun. I'm overweight myself. But Gerard Depardieu's transition from hunky french leading man to morbidly obese veteran actor is a bit troubling).

In the same way we could never imagine any other actor besides Dennis Hopper portraying “Frank Booth” in Blue Velvet, I can't picture another actor playing the role of Devereaux in Welcome To New York.

Oh and side note - this is the best performance Jacqueline Bisset has given in years. She easily joins the ranks of Chris Penn (The Funeral), Forest Whitaker (Mary) & Harvey Keitel (Bad Lieutenant) in the pantheon of great Abel Ferrara performances.

Not only will hardcore Abel Ferrara fans enjoy this, but it's also the perfect film for Ferrara novices that are looking to get familiar with his filmography.