Dave reviews "Love Lies Bleeding" starring Kristen Stewart, then plays a crime story song of his own, "El Dorado" (co-written with John Bunzli)

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Welcome to Movie Reviews with Original Songs, aka MRwOS! I am your host, David Coile, and I’ll be reviewing a movie I’ve watched recently, then pair it with one of my backlog of original songs.

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In this episode, I’ll be reviewing the film “Love Lies Bleeding” and performing an original song, “El Dorado”, that I wrote with John Bunzli.

Movie: Love Lies Bleeding

“Love Lies Bleeding” is a film, written and directed by Rose Glass, about a rural gym manager (played by Kristen Stewart) who has a fling with a female bodybuilder (played by Katy O’Brian) who is passing through town on her way to a competition in Las Vegas. As their relationship develops, they get entangled in the local family crime drama. As is usually the case with film noir, things start off pretty ugly. This is initially indicated by the terrible haircuts sported by Stewart and her on-screen gangster father (played by Ed Harris). Luckily, the drama intensifies enough to distract you from the questionable mullets. The story is a by-the-numbers noir, in that everybody is morally compromised and things go from bad to worse until you pretty much hit rock bottom– it does a competent job running through the genre formula. 

All the performances are great– I know that Kristen Stewart gets a lot of grief for her performances in the Twilight series, but what comes off as wooden acting in a blockbuster comes off as nuance in a smaller film– I’ve always enjoyed her performances in indie cinema. Otherwise, the most interesting thing about the film is how it depicts the effects of performance enhancing drugs on the bodybuilder. Also, the climax of the film is surprising in a way that isn’t quite a twist, but definitely flips our perspective. Viewers should beware that there is a very gruesome scene in the middle of the film. 

This is a well told crime story, and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates film noir. It is slightly more cinematic than your average TV movie, so it’s probably worth seeing in theaters if you can. If you’re not a fan of gritty, violent tales about people with questionable morals, probably best to skip this one. 

Song: El Dorado

I wrote the song “El Dorado” with my friend John Bunzli back in 2018. I chose this song for this film because it depicts the aftermath of a crime gone wrong and the protagonist’s attempts to escape through a romantic relationship.