"Frank and Lola" is a an independent romance drama thriller directed by Matthew Ross, and starring Michael Shannon (Frank), Imogen Poots (Lola), and Justin Long (Keith).
The film follows the characters of Frank and Lola. Frank is an uptight chef who takes pride in his cooking and the culinary arts, and Lola is a young eccentric woman who makes dress designs. The film starts with the two in their relationship and as the film goes on explains how the two actually met. One night Lola comes home crying telling Frank that she "made a mistake." This is where the film takes a dark turn and gives us an eerily disturbing look at what a dysfunctional relationship can be like.
Right off the bat the acting is great. Shannon was perfect as the character of Frank, this obsessed, uptight and disturbing individual. Shannon was on fire in 2016 with "Midnight Special", "Elvis & Nixon", and "Nocturnal Animals", and this film just shows how much of a great actor he really is. Poots was great as Lola, her performance really sold the role and was done very well. Justin Long was good in the movie too as this obnoxious, wealthy, charismatic douche.
The cinematography in the film was beautiful. In a way the film looked very much like a Nicolas Winding Refn film (specifically "Only God Forgives" and "The Neon Demon") There was a lot of bright reds, yellows, and blues, it was gorgeous to look at and never took me out of the film.Matthew Ross proves to be a very stylized director with great vision and execution. He makes time to develop every character in the film no matter how big or small their role was, and justifies the characters actions.
A few issues I had was the relationship between the two characters of Frank and Lola. Their relationship is never really explored on why they "love" each other so much and how they're still able to be together when all these awful things start happening to them. Another issue is that the film gets a little repetitive during the halfway mark which made me question the believability of "that" happening twice.
Overall "Frank and Lola" is a well executed film with great performances by Michael Shannon and Imogen Poots, and a great directorial debut for Matthew Ross.
The film follows the characters of Frank and Lola. Frank is an uptight chef who takes pride in his cooking and the culinary arts, and Lola is a young eccentric woman who makes dress designs. The film starts with the two in their relationship and as the film goes on explains how the two actually met. One night Lola comes home crying telling Frank that she "made a mistake." This is where the film takes a dark turn and gives us an eerily disturbing look at what a dysfunctional relationship can be like.
Right off the bat the acting is great. Shannon was perfect as the character of Frank, this obsessed, uptight and disturbing individual. Shannon was on fire in 2016 with "Midnight Special", "Elvis & Nixon", and "Nocturnal Animals", and this film just shows how much of a great actor he really is. Poots was great as Lola, her performance really sold the role and was done very well. Justin Long was good in the movie too as this obnoxious, wealthy, charismatic douche.
The cinematography in the film was beautiful. In a way the film looked very much like a Nicolas Winding Refn film (specifically "Only God Forgives" and "The Neon Demon") There was a lot of bright reds, yellows, and blues, it was gorgeous to look at and never took me out of the film.Matthew Ross proves to be a very stylized director with great vision and execution. He makes time to develop every character in the film no matter how big or small their role was, and justifies the characters actions.
A few issues I had was the relationship between the two characters of Frank and Lola. Their relationship is never really explored on why they "love" each other so much and how they're still able to be together when all these awful things start happening to them. Another issue is that the film gets a little repetitive during the halfway mark which made me question the believability of "that" happening twice.
Overall "Frank and Lola" is a well executed film with great performances by Michael Shannon and Imogen Poots, and a great directorial debut for Matthew Ross.