.... and none of them live happily ever after.
This film if full of very graphic violence and fairly graphic sex scenes. I wouldn't say either are gratuitous, given that sexual obsession and revenge are central themes of the film, but if you are troubled by either I would give this one a swerve.
The entire feel of this film is gritty and depressing. We first meet Kristen Stewart's character, Lou, with her hand down a feces-filled blocked literal loo. The pragmatist in me immediately wondered why there were no toilet plungers in this part of the American South (New Mexico). However, this was clearly intended to introduce her character as subsumed in the filthy, sweaty, steroid-fueled world of the body-builder.
The first act revolves primarily about her budding relationship with a female body-builder who is just passing through on her way to Vegas, the second act veers off into extreme violence and the third act ..... well that just get weird.
It is not to say this film was not worth seeing - it was - and the performances by the main characters gritty and compelling. But there was such limited character development that, by the end, I didn't really care who died (and it was odds on for a while that everyone would).
Most enjoyable was the cinematography. Here this movie really stood out. The isolated locale of the gym where much of the first act takes place was juxtaposed, with all its fluorescent-lit grime, against a backdrop of gorgeous desert, star-filled skies. But the natural beauty of the surroundings only highlighted the unrelenting dreariness of the lives of the protagonists. You will want a shower after watching this film.
This film if full of very graphic violence and fairly graphic sex scenes. I wouldn't say either are gratuitous, given that sexual obsession and revenge are central themes of the film, but if you are troubled by either I would give this one a swerve.
The entire feel of this film is gritty and depressing. We first meet Kristen Stewart's character, Lou, with her hand down a feces-filled blocked literal loo. The pragmatist in me immediately wondered why there were no toilet plungers in this part of the American South (New Mexico). However, this was clearly intended to introduce her character as subsumed in the filthy, sweaty, steroid-fueled world of the body-builder.
The first act revolves primarily about her budding relationship with a female body-builder who is just passing through on her way to Vegas, the second act veers off into extreme violence and the third act ..... well that just get weird.
It is not to say this film was not worth seeing - it was - and the performances by the main characters gritty and compelling. But there was such limited character development that, by the end, I didn't really care who died (and it was odds on for a while that everyone would).
Most enjoyable was the cinematography. Here this movie really stood out. The isolated locale of the gym where much of the first act takes place was juxtaposed, with all its fluorescent-lit grime, against a backdrop of gorgeous desert, star-filled skies. But the natural beauty of the surroundings only highlighted the unrelenting dreariness of the lives of the protagonists. You will want a shower after watching this film.