Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  2021 was a banner year for women film directors. Chloe Zhou, Julia Ducournau and Audrey Diwan collected the top awards at the Oscars, Cannes and Venice Film Festivals for Nomadland , Titane and L' É v é nement (Happening) respectively, Zhou being the only the second woman to win Best Director at the Oscars. The list of female auteurs , women whose presence behind the camera is a draw for an audience, steadily expanded, the aforementioned directors having proved themselves in follow-ups to their auspicious debuts. However, women directors have a long way to go in being routinely considered to helm blockbuster franchises. Imdb users’ list of the most anticipated films of 2022 includes no films directed by women. Admittedly, it is a tired selection of Marvel movies (the latest outings of Dr Strange and Thor), DC flicks ( The Batman , The Flash ) sequels ( Jurassic World: Dominion , Top Gun: Maverick , Mission: Impossible 7 and Scream ), a video game turned into a movie ( Uncharted...

Still courtesy of A24 Films (US) / Lionsgate (UK) Five years after her notable debut, Saint Maud , that took audiences into the delusional mind of a tortured, lonely, self-sacrificing nurse, director Rose Glass is in more cheerful mood with her long-awaited follow-up, Love Lies Bleeding , a film set in the late 1980s that pays homage to Thelma and Louise . She casts Twilight star Kristen Stewart, recently seen as Princess Diana, in a sharply contrasting role, as Lou, a gym manager first seen with her hand down a blocked toilet. Co-writing the script with director Weronika Tofilska, whose credits include the television series, Baby Reindeer , Glass explores the love at first sight romance between Lou and Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a body builder with a dark past who is on her way to Las Vegas on her way to a contest. Lou introduces Jackie to steroids, which has genuinely unexpected consequences. Glass’ mood is relative. The catalyst of the drama is domestic abuse. Lou’s sister, Beth (Jen...