Aside from the obvious comparisons—Thelma & Louise, Bound, Wild Things—director and co-screenwriter Rose Glass’s latest genre blast has more in common with the early work of John Dahl (Kill Me Again and Red Rock West) and that classic of American lit, Of Mice and Men, than anything else. She also seems heavily influenced by Nicolas Winding Refn, as well.
On the surface it’s an unabashed love story concerned with one Lou (fantastically portrayed by Kristen Stewart), a deceptively meek and mild manager at an industrial gym and drifter cum wannabe bodybuilder Jackie (an uber ripped Katy O'Brian). Things go horribly awry when the two hook up, become lovers and the latter finds a taste for steroids. Oh yeah, the whole endeavor is laced with quick-flash lurid sex and ultra-violence.
Furthermore, if one wishes to get academically introspective, the story also examines toxic femininity and what happens when women adopt the traits of toxic masculinity in order to navigate the twisted patriarchy of bodybuilding and the late ‘80s underworld of Albuquerque gun running.
Lensed in a neon like dream haze that’s more nightmare hallucinatory gonzoness than anything else, the film is additionally drenched in a sonic maelstrom of electronic oomphs! courtesy of Clint (Pop Will Eat Itself) Mansell, not to mention mind-numbingly intense sound design.
As for the Steinbeckian connection? Read into that as you will, but I found the lead characters of Lou to be akin to George with Jackie taking on the role of Lennie. Feel free to draw your own conclusions, but this story follows many of the same themes as the 1937 novel.
Honestly, though, when stripped to its core, this is a wickedly paced, slick and frenetic ode to steamy 1980’s noir B-movies. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
RIYL
Good Time; Vengeance; Rumble Fish; Wild at Heart
