The eighties.
Jackie (Katie O’Brian) is a bodybuilder with dreams of stardom.
Arriving in a small town, she gets a job at a local gun range, and falls in love with gym manager Lou (Kristen Stewart).
Things are looking up for Jackie.
Sure, there’s a dead body to get rid of, and Lou’s dad (Ed Harris) is clearly some kind of criminal kingpin. But things are looking up.
Hopefully Jackie and Lou will live long enough to get to the end of rainbow.
I have not had this much fun in a movie in a long time.
And despite the violence and the steroids, this is tonally buoyant.
It takes the eighties obsession with physical health and twists it.
Rather than revealing the hypocrisy and violence underpinning it, the film never demonises or ridicules Jackie’s dream.
As the movie progresses, O’Brian’s backstory is inferred but never made explicit.
The most we get is a darkly comic phone call between Jackie and a young child (a sibling?) while covered in blood. The call is ended by an unknown adult who warns Jackie to never call back.
The most telling element for me about her character is her blocky scrawl of ‘VEGAS’ on the wall calendar. It epitomises the character’s focus and - despite what she has been through - her optimism about the future.
One of the most fascinating elements of the movie is the film’s lack of embarrassment around bodies and physical attraction.
It is rare to see a movie that delights in showing attraction. Not just love but Lust.
As soon as our leads see each other, these characters are locked into each other.
Their first real scene together boils down to Stewart watching O’Brian work out.
O’Brian’s body is a site of worship for Stewart’s Lou. She is never presented as monstrous - even when she is shown killing someone.
The film does not see her as impervious. If anything, her physique makes her more visible and exposed.
The movie is so funny - deadpan, ultra violent farce, surreal body horror amped up by hyper-real sound design.
But what really impresses is how this film manages to create an empathy for these characters. There is a more misanthropic version of this movie which would make fun of O’Brian and Stewart as they turn toward bloody vengeance.
The motives are personal - this couple are forced to do horrible, stupid things because of love.
Even as they fall deeper into trouble, the film does not laugh at them. We take time to invest in these characters, and their love is given more nuance and weight by how they reckon with the revelations about their true natures and secrets.
It is a bit early to start making lists but this movie is easily my favourite of the year so far.
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