Rose Glass revitalises Hollywood noir in her story of a female bodybuilder who falls in love with a mobster’s daughter

The film has a broad archive of references ranging from the works of influential queer filmmaker John Waters to The Incredible Hulk (2008). A neo-noir, queer crime thriller, Love Lies Bleeding also recalls the Wachowski sisters’ Bound (1996), and the queer-coded buddy movie Thelma and Louise (1991).

There’s clear vision within Love Lies Bleeding, but it all feels a bit shallow. The extremely basic story is the main source of why this work suffers. Complexity is absent from the picture. We’ve seen this type of story many times before.