Four months into 2024, and it’s already shaping up to be an exceptionally strong year for cinematography, with several standout films that represent the art form at its apex. Perhaps what’s most welcome about these films is their variety, not only in terms of genre and tone but also budget and position in the marketplace. From the studio system, we have Greig Fraser’s extraordinary work on “Dune: Part Two,” which doubles down on the ambition and tactile detail of Fraser’s work on its predecessor (for which he justly received an Academy Award) to create one of the most flat-out beautiful epics since the glory days of David Lean. From the world of low-budget, independent filmmaking, we have “I Saw the TV Glow,” where cinematographer Eric Yue designs a meticulous and expressive visual corollary for his protagonist’s inner state.
Somewhere in between “Dune” and “I Saw the TV Glow...
Somewhere in between “Dune” and “I Saw the TV Glow...
- 4/20/2024
- by Jim Hemphill and Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Sex, ‘80s, and Robby Müller: How Two Brits Recreated the American Crime Film in ‘Love Lies Bleeding’
Unlike most of the next generation of great director-cinematographer pairings, Ben Fordesman and Rose Glass didn’t have a collaborative history prior to their first feature “Saint Maud.” They didn’t go to school together or make short films — it was Fordesman’s agent who made the connection for “Saint Maud.”
And in interviewing both Glass and Fordesman for this story, it’s clear on the first project they were feeling each other out, figuring out how the other worked, and then at some point it just clicked.
Glass described the development of a visual style on “Saint Maud” that became the basis of their work on their second feature, “Love Lies Bleeding.” “I think that naturally we had a bit of a shorthand, I guess trying to constantly balance this being of [and] in the real world, but also kind of not,” said Glass, while she was a guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast.
And in interviewing both Glass and Fordesman for this story, it’s clear on the first project they were feeling each other out, figuring out how the other worked, and then at some point it just clicked.
Glass described the development of a visual style on “Saint Maud” that became the basis of their work on their second feature, “Love Lies Bleeding.” “I think that naturally we had a bit of a shorthand, I guess trying to constantly balance this being of [and] in the real world, but also kind of not,” said Glass, while she was a guest on IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast.
- 3/30/2024
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
[Editor’s note: The following interview contains major spoilers for “Love Lies Bleeding” and its ending.]
If you’ve already seen “Love Lies Bleeding,” there are surely a few images from the film you’re still scraping off your brain. Rose Glass’ 1980s Southwest-set midnight movie centers on the volatile but nevertheless unavoidable romance between Lou (Kristen Stewart), a bored lesbian gym manager, and Jackie (Katy O’Brian), the ‘roid-raging bodybuilder who sweeps into town to save Lou from her small-town ennui.
But as the pair fall in love, the corpses pile up — and so do the heads as, after a steroid-addled Jackie brutally murdered the be-mulleted wife-beater JJ (Dave Franco), who’s married to the abuse-dazed Beth (Jena Malone), who also happens to be Lou’s sister. Meanwhile, hanging over everything is Lou and Beth’s father, the gnarly, bug-eating gangster Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), with his share of secrets, in the form of bodies and smuggled arms in the depths of a nearby canyon.
If you’ve already seen “Love Lies Bleeding,” there are surely a few images from the film you’re still scraping off your brain. Rose Glass’ 1980s Southwest-set midnight movie centers on the volatile but nevertheless unavoidable romance between Lou (Kristen Stewart), a bored lesbian gym manager, and Jackie (Katy O’Brian), the ‘roid-raging bodybuilder who sweeps into town to save Lou from her small-town ennui.
But as the pair fall in love, the corpses pile up — and so do the heads as, after a steroid-addled Jackie brutally murdered the be-mulleted wife-beater JJ (Dave Franco), who’s married to the abuse-dazed Beth (Jena Malone), who also happens to be Lou’s sister. Meanwhile, hanging over everything is Lou and Beth’s father, the gnarly, bug-eating gangster Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), with his share of secrets, in the form of bodies and smuggled arms in the depths of a nearby canyon.
- 3/15/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart in Love Lies BleedingPhoto: A24
Few feature debuts in the last decade have been as memorable and bone-chilling as Rose Glass’ Saint Maud, which opened in 2019 to glowing critical reception. Since then, we (or at least I) have been waiting with bated breath for Glass’ sophomore effort,...
Few feature debuts in the last decade have been as memorable and bone-chilling as Rose Glass’ Saint Maud, which opened in 2019 to glowing critical reception. Since then, we (or at least I) have been waiting with bated breath for Glass’ sophomore effort,...
- 3/11/2024
- by Lauren Coates
- avclub.com
Rose Glass is back with a vengeance in her sweat-slick ode to American underbelly tales, Love Lies Bleeding. The Saint Maud filmmaker returns with a brawny psychological thriller that isn't afraid to get weird or take risks, which is both a warning and encouragement. Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian unsurprisingly flex their talents while wrestling with every twist and turn in Glass' queer criminal caper, gorgeously shot like high art meets a weightlifting competition. It's gritty like grip chalk and obscure in measured doses, comparable to something illicit like Jim Mickle's Cold in July splashed with Glass' exciting penchant for surrealist pops in an otherwise grounded narrative.
Kristen Stewart stars as reclusive Crater Gym manager Lou, who takes an immediate shine to the beefy and beautiful bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O'Brian). One thing leads to another, and Jackie ends up romantically entangled with Lou, shacked together while Jackie trains for a competition in Las Vegas.
Kristen Stewart stars as reclusive Crater Gym manager Lou, who takes an immediate shine to the beefy and beautiful bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O'Brian). One thing leads to another, and Jackie ends up romantically entangled with Lou, shacked together while Jackie trains for a competition in Las Vegas.
- 3/7/2024
- by Matt Donato
- DailyDead
“There’s something so completely undeniable about it. There’s just nothing to hide behind. You only get looking like that one way and it’s by an undeniable amount of work,” says director Rose Glass of bodybuilding, the sport that is one of the focal points of her sophomore feature, Love Lies Bleeding.
The film, the follow-up to her incredibly well-received body horror Saint Maud, follows Lou (Kristen Stewart) as the manager of a gym in middle-of-nowhere America who falls for a bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) after she blows into town on her way to a competition in Vegas. The two quickly run into trouble with Lou’s father (Ed Harris), an arms dealer who runs the local crime ring.
Ahead of the Berlin Film Festival, where the film will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 18, Glass talked to THR about bodybuilding and Saturday Night Fever influences.
How did the story first come to you?...
The film, the follow-up to her incredibly well-received body horror Saint Maud, follows Lou (Kristen Stewart) as the manager of a gym in middle-of-nowhere America who falls for a bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) after she blows into town on her way to a competition in Vegas. The two quickly run into trouble with Lou’s father (Ed Harris), an arms dealer who runs the local crime ring.
Ahead of the Berlin Film Festival, where the film will premiere on Sunday, Feb. 18, Glass talked to THR about bodybuilding and Saturday Night Fever influences.
How did the story first come to you?...
- 2/16/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stars: Chuku Modu, Luna Mwezi, Iola Evans, Kit Young, Arno Lüning, Safia Oakley-Green | Written by Ruth Greenberg | Directed by Andrew Cumming
I can almost imagine Out of Darkness’ director Andrew Cumming pitching the film to potential backers as Quest for Fire meets Predator. And that would be a fairly accurate description of this Stone Age thriller about a tribe of early humans being picked off by an unseen foe. And one that makes it sound a lot less cerebral and more commercial than it might otherwise appear.
45,000 years ago, six early humans have left their tribe to find a new home. Leading the group is Adem, who also has his young son Heron and Ave who’s carrying Adem’s child along with him. Also making the trek are Geirr, Adem’s more cautious second-in-command and Odal’s who seems to be some kind of shaman and last, and certainly least,...
I can almost imagine Out of Darkness’ director Andrew Cumming pitching the film to potential backers as Quest for Fire meets Predator. And that would be a fairly accurate description of this Stone Age thriller about a tribe of early humans being picked off by an unseen foe. And one that makes it sound a lot less cerebral and more commercial than it might otherwise appear.
45,000 years ago, six early humans have left their tribe to find a new home. Leading the group is Adem, who also has his young son Heron and Ave who’s carrying Adem’s child along with him. Also making the trek are Geirr, Adem’s more cautious second-in-command and Odal’s who seems to be some kind of shaman and last, and certainly least,...
- 2/7/2024
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Movies about Stone Age life have been so few that just one past effort could be taken seriously, the rest being funny — intentionally or otherwise. Belatedly offering non-laughable companionship to Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 1981 “Quest for Fire” is “Out of Darkness,” a lean, mean adventure story on the cusp of horror that firsttime feature director Andrew Cumming imbues with tension and handsome visual atmospherics.
Titled “The Origin” when it premiered at BFI London Fest in fall 2022, since retitled (presumably to avoid confusion with Ava DuVernay’s current “Origin”), it’s a strong genre piece lent real novelty by being set approximately 45,000 years ago. Bleecker Street opens the U.K. indie production on more than 500 U.S. screens this Friday, simultaneous with a home-turf release.
We meet our protagonists around a campfire — unlike those of “Quest,” set circa 80,000 B.C., these prehistoric ancestors have figured that much out — as they air hopes...
Titled “The Origin” when it premiered at BFI London Fest in fall 2022, since retitled (presumably to avoid confusion with Ava DuVernay’s current “Origin”), it’s a strong genre piece lent real novelty by being set approximately 45,000 years ago. Bleecker Street opens the U.K. indie production on more than 500 U.S. screens this Friday, simultaneous with a home-turf release.
We meet our protagonists around a campfire — unlike those of “Quest,” set circa 80,000 B.C., these prehistoric ancestors have figured that much out — as they air hopes...
- 2/5/2024
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
When a magnificently gnarled Ed Harris, wearing stringy Argus Filch hair and chomping on a horned beetle in a moment of psychotic rage is far from the weirdest thing in a movie, you know you’re in for a wild experience. That’s what Brit director Rose Glass delivers in Love Lies Bleeding, a lesbian neo-noir drenched in brooding nightscapes, violent crime and more hardcore KStew cool than has ever been packaged in such a potent concentrate. Seriously, is there anyone who doesn’t want to watch Kristen Stewart flicking back a greasy shag, driving an old pickup and chain-smoking in grubby tank tops?
Glass instantly established herself as a singular talent with her 2021 debut, Saint Maud, an audacious shot of undiluted terror and spiraling insanity that announced an idiosyncratic new voice in horror. She follows with a swerve into romantic, sexual and physical obsession that fearlessly keeps upping the...
Glass instantly established herself as a singular talent with her 2021 debut, Saint Maud, an audacious shot of undiluted terror and spiraling insanity that announced an idiosyncratic new voice in horror. She follows with a swerve into romantic, sexual and physical obsession that fearlessly keeps upping the...
- 1/21/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
All film noirs start with a bad decision. Love Lies Bleeding, Rose Glass’s follow-up to her cult horror movie Saint Maud and the most case-hardened Southwestern pulp this side of Jim Thompson, kicks off with a doozy. Lou (Kristen Stewart) cleans toilets and works the desk at a gym in New Mexico. Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a would-be competitive bodybuilder, has just breezed into town and strolls in for a workout. Soon, these two will spend long nights ravaging each other, dumping corpses, dodging bullets, and running for their lives.
- 1/21/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Andrew Cumming’s feature directorial debut, The Origin, executes its high concept with impressive ambition. Not only does it travel back 45,000 years in time to tell the survival thriller, but Cummings and screenwriter Ruth Greenberg developed a fictional language for its characters. Combined with a handsomely shot production, it ensures that The Origin beguiles, though it struggles to mine suspense from its thrills and falters in the destination.
The Origin introduces six early human settlers in the midst of an arduous journey to find new land. They’ve traveled countless miles across desolate tundras, with food scarce and the elements harsh. As they approach a forest, it becomes clear that something is watching, stalking, and preying upon them one by one.
Cummings and Greenberg introduce this unique world and its characters around a campfire, establishing the merciless way of life and how it shapes its Stone Age inhabitants. Adem (Chuku Modu) is the Alpha male,...
The Origin introduces six early human settlers in the midst of an arduous journey to find new land. They’ve traveled countless miles across desolate tundras, with food scarce and the elements harsh. As they approach a forest, it becomes clear that something is watching, stalking, and preying upon them one by one.
Cummings and Greenberg introduce this unique world and its characters around a campfire, establishing the merciless way of life and how it shapes its Stone Age inhabitants. Adem (Chuku Modu) is the Alpha male,...
- 9/23/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
The Highlands of Scotland are the perfect backdrop for Andrew Cumming’s prehistoric genre piece Out of Darkness, a survivalist horror that also works as a thoughtful human drama as its core cast of six fight for their lives against a violent, unseen creature. The Origin had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
The setting is 45,000 years ago, and a landing party led by Adem (Chuku Modu) washes up at the shore of what they hope to be the promised land. It is, however, a false dawn: the soil is barren, and the group needs to stay on the move if they are to survive. But as they do so, the terrain becomes more forbidding — wide open plains and claustrophobic forests —and something terrifying is on their trail, making nightfall especially tense.
There are plenty of parallels with other movies, notably John Carpenter’s The Thing, Out of Darkness...
The setting is 45,000 years ago, and a landing party led by Adem (Chuku Modu) washes up at the shore of what they hope to be the promised land. It is, however, a false dawn: the soil is barren, and the group needs to stay on the move if they are to survive. But as they do so, the terrain becomes more forbidding — wide open plains and claustrophobic forests —and something terrifying is on their trail, making nightfall especially tense.
There are plenty of parallels with other movies, notably John Carpenter’s The Thing, Out of Darkness...
- 10/8/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s fitting that Andrew Cummings debut feature opens with stories told around a campfire – it has themes that date back, not just to the birth of cinema, but probably to the beginning of storytelling itself … not for nothing is this titled The Origin. We have the terror of the night and the mysteries beyond the circle of firelight of our known world. We have the fear of the other. We have superstition vs rationalism. We have the question “who is the real monster here?” and we have, especially, a threatened man’s fear of women. These are deep, primal themes, revisited over and again since humanity first saw shadows reflected on the cave wall (thank you Mr Plato).
Universal and ancient though the themes might be, Cummings, whose film is premiering at the Lff (the two remaining performances are already sold out), has given his debut a relatively novel setting: 45,000 years into the past,...
Universal and ancient though the themes might be, Cummings, whose film is premiering at the Lff (the two remaining performances are already sold out), has given his debut a relatively novel setting: 45,000 years into the past,...
- 10/7/2022
- by Marc Burrows
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The film won three acting prizes including two for Kosar Ali.
Rocks was the big winner at the 2020 British Independent Film Awards tonight, taking home five prizes including best British independent film.
The film also won three acting prizes: best supporting actress and most promising newcomer for Kosar Ali, and best supporting actor for D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
“We’re not just any ordinary girls from the estate. We’re more than that. Our postcodes do not determine our limits,” said cast member Tawheda Begum when accepting the best British independent film prize.
Rocks was the big winner at the 2020 British Independent Film Awards tonight, taking home five prizes including best British independent film.
The film also won three acting prizes: best supporting actress and most promising newcomer for Kosar Ali, and best supporting actor for D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
“We’re not just any ordinary girls from the estate. We’re more than that. Our postcodes do not determine our limits,” said cast member Tawheda Begum when accepting the best British independent film prize.
- 2/19/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
His House: Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù as Bol Majur, Wunmi Mosaku as Rial Majur. Cr. Aidan Monaghan/Netflix © 2020
In an online ceremony hosted by Tom Felton, the winners of the 2020 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) were announced. Live from Wales, where he is filming Save the Cinema for Sky Cinema, Tom welcomed a glittering array of stars to announce the winners.
Best British Independent Film was awarded to coming-of-age drama Rocks by Zendaya with actress Kosar Ali also taking home the awards for both Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Newcomer with her young co-star D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu winning Best Supporting Actor. The four awards on the night took the film’s BIFA tally to five with Lucy Pardee winning the award for Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society of America and Spotlight when the craft award winners were announced in January.
British horror His House was awarded two BIFAs on the...
In an online ceremony hosted by Tom Felton, the winners of the 2020 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) were announced. Live from Wales, where he is filming Save the Cinema for Sky Cinema, Tom welcomed a glittering array of stars to announce the winners.
Best British Independent Film was awarded to coming-of-age drama Rocks by Zendaya with actress Kosar Ali also taking home the awards for both Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Newcomer with her young co-star D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu winning Best Supporting Actor. The four awards on the night took the film’s BIFA tally to five with Lucy Pardee winning the award for Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society of America and Spotlight when the craft award winners were announced in January.
British horror His House was awarded two BIFAs on the...
- 2/18/2021
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
“Rocks,” “His House” and “The Father” were the leaders at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), which were announced Thursday.
Coming-of-age drama “Rocks” won best British independent film, with Kosar Ali winning the awards for both best supporting actress and most promising newcomer with her young co-star D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu winning best supporting actor. Lucy Pardee’s best casting award, which was among the craft award winners announced in January, takes the “Rocks” tally to five.
Remi Weekes won best director and Wunmi Mosaku won best actress for horror film “His House.” The film also won the best production design and effects awards.
Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of an ageing man in “The Father” won best actor, and the film also won best screenplay for writer-director Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, and best editing for Yorgos Lamprinos.
In a year when awards were spread evenly, “Saint Maud,” “Mogul Mowgli,” “Misbehaviour” and...
Coming-of-age drama “Rocks” won best British independent film, with Kosar Ali winning the awards for both best supporting actress and most promising newcomer with her young co-star D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu winning best supporting actor. Lucy Pardee’s best casting award, which was among the craft award winners announced in January, takes the “Rocks” tally to five.
Remi Weekes won best director and Wunmi Mosaku won best actress for horror film “His House.” The film also won the best production design and effects awards.
Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of an ageing man in “The Father” won best actor, and the film also won best screenplay for writer-director Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, and best editing for Yorgos Lamprinos.
In a year when awards were spread evenly, “Saint Maud,” “Mogul Mowgli,” “Misbehaviour” and...
- 2/18/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Sarah Gavron’s Rocks and Remi Weekes’ His House scooped five and four awards respectively, while Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor for The Father, at tonight’s British Independent Film Awards, held virtually this year. Scroll down for the full list of winners.
Rocks was crowned Best British Independent Film, beating strong competition from the likes of Saint Maud and The Father. The film, a social drama about a group of schoolgirls and shot largely with non-actors, also took Best Supporting Actress (Kosar Ali) and Best Supporting Actor (D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu), as well as Most Promising Newcomer (Kosar Ali again) and Best Casting (Lucy Pardee).
It was also a great night for the claustrophobic horror His House, with Remi Weekes picking up Best Director, Wunmi Mosaku winning Best Actress, and the film picking up two below-the-line prizes: Best Effects (Pedro Sabrosa and Stefano Pepin) and Best Production Design (Jacqueline Abrahams...
Rocks was crowned Best British Independent Film, beating strong competition from the likes of Saint Maud and The Father. The film, a social drama about a group of schoolgirls and shot largely with non-actors, also took Best Supporting Actress (Kosar Ali) and Best Supporting Actor (D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu), as well as Most Promising Newcomer (Kosar Ali again) and Best Casting (Lucy Pardee).
It was also a great night for the claustrophobic horror His House, with Remi Weekes picking up Best Director, Wunmi Mosaku winning Best Actress, and the film picking up two below-the-line prizes: Best Effects (Pedro Sabrosa and Stefano Pepin) and Best Production Design (Jacqueline Abrahams...
- 2/18/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) today announced the first of this year’s award winners for its nine-film craft categories.
Remi Weekes’ chilling debut ‘His House’, which received 16 BIFA nominations in total, has won two awards: Best Effects (for Pedro Sabrosa and Stefano Pepin) and Best Production Design sponsored by Studio Juice, for Jacqueline Abrams who was previously nominated for the award in 2017 for ‘Lady Macbeth’.
Philippa Lowthorpe’s Misbehaviour, a colourful portrait of the Woman’s Liberation Movement, won awards for its Costume Design and Make Up & Hair, for Charlotte Walter and Jill Sweeney respectively.
Also in news – Willy Wonka prequel finally gets the go-ahead with ‘Paddington’ helmer directing
Lucy Pardee was awarded Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society of America and Spotlight for Rocks, which was cast through a collaborative process that involved workshopping with young untrained actors to explore their characters.
Saint Maud, which topped the...
Remi Weekes’ chilling debut ‘His House’, which received 16 BIFA nominations in total, has won two awards: Best Effects (for Pedro Sabrosa and Stefano Pepin) and Best Production Design sponsored by Studio Juice, for Jacqueline Abrams who was previously nominated for the award in 2017 for ‘Lady Macbeth’.
Philippa Lowthorpe’s Misbehaviour, a colourful portrait of the Woman’s Liberation Movement, won awards for its Costume Design and Make Up & Hair, for Charlotte Walter and Jill Sweeney respectively.
Also in news – Willy Wonka prequel finally gets the go-ahead with ‘Paddington’ helmer directing
Lucy Pardee was awarded Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society of America and Spotlight for Rocks, which was cast through a collaborative process that involved workshopping with young untrained actors to explore their characters.
Saint Maud, which topped the...
- 1/25/2021
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
First nine awards announced online.
Horror His House and Miss World drama Misbehaviour have both received two British Independent Film Awards from the nine craft categories announced online today.
Directed by Remi Weekes, His House picked up best effects for Pedro Sabrosa and Stefano Pepin, and best production design for Jacqueline Abrahams. The film received 16 nominations this year, the second-highest total in the history of the BIFAs behind Saint Maud’s 17 (also this year).
Philippa Lowthorpe’s Misbehaviour recorded wins in costume design for Charlotte Walter and make-up and hair for Jill Sweeney, out of its three total nominations.
Saint Maud...
Horror His House and Miss World drama Misbehaviour have both received two British Independent Film Awards from the nine craft categories announced online today.
Directed by Remi Weekes, His House picked up best effects for Pedro Sabrosa and Stefano Pepin, and best production design for Jacqueline Abrahams. The film received 16 nominations this year, the second-highest total in the history of the BIFAs behind Saint Maud’s 17 (also this year).
Philippa Lowthorpe’s Misbehaviour recorded wins in costume design for Charlotte Walter and make-up and hair for Jill Sweeney, out of its three total nominations.
Saint Maud...
- 1/25/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
In the canon of religious horror films—exemplified by Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Exorcist (1973)—the devil has long made a habit of weaponizing the female body. If a possession intervenes between the body and soul, for the pious and unbelieving alike, the corporeal tends to betray or eclipse the spiritual, and so the devil seems to have the upper hand. In Saint Maud, the sophisticated debut feature from writer-director Rose Glass, the divine could not be more physical, as flesh-ripping as it is orgasmic. Morfydd Clark plays an eccentric young nurse who, in the wake of trauma, has converted to what looks an awful lot like Catholicism and has newly christened herself Maud. Now working in hospice care, her latest charge is a formerly feted dancer, Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), debilitated by what appears to be cancer. Amanda, an atheist, generally finds Maud’s piety amusing, if sometimes endearing. Maud, meanwhile,...
- 10/8/2020
- MUBI
If God exists then so must The Devil in Rose Glass’ stunning debut Saint Maud which sees a pious young nurse who experiences beatific visions become obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). Saint Maud is a strange, gorgeous, and deeply disturbing chiller which mixes psychological, religious, and body horror to form something that feels utterly original. Very definitely a genre movie, this is “elevated” horror that messes with your perceptions of what’s real and what isn’t and comes with an ending that’s so simultaneously euphoric and horrific it feels like a punch in the heart.
Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a young private palliative care nurse looking after a former noted dancer dealing with late-stage cancer. Maud talks directly to God and feels his presence in almost orgasmic ecstasy and when Amanda tells Maud she can feel Him too, Maud believes it...
Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a young private palliative care nurse looking after a former noted dancer dealing with late-stage cancer. Maud talks directly to God and feels his presence in almost orgasmic ecstasy and when Amanda tells Maud she can feel Him too, Maud believes it...
- 3/7/2020
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
Is there such a thing as “A24 horror” now? I had that thought watching Rose Glass’ debut feature Saint Maud. It feels indebted to some of the distributor’s titles, namely First Reformed and The Witch in how it tackles faith, good, and evil. It’s interesting to see a film playing so much into the hand of what’s become trendy as counterprogramming to the overflow of Blumhouse thrill rides and the “Conjuring cinematic universe”. On this level, Glass’ film is a rousing success; after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival A24 picked it up for distribution, their only acquisition at the fest.
None of this is a criticism against Glass’ film either, which handles itself capably for a first feature. It follows Maud (Morfydd Clark), a nurse who just left her job at a hospital to provide live-in care for terminally ill patients. She’s tasked...
None of this is a criticism against Glass’ film either, which handles itself capably for a first feature. It follows Maud (Morfydd Clark), a nurse who just left her job at a hospital to provide live-in care for terminally ill patients. She’s tasked...
- 9/23/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The Notebook is covering Tiff with an on-going correspondence between critics Fernando F. Croce Kelley Dong, and editor Daniel Kasman.Saint MaudDear Danny and Fern, The festival has come to an end and exhaustion has caught up to me. The end of press screenings and industry gatherings signals the start of sleep and, whenever awake, reading Jack London’s Martin Eden. Having seen so many films in a short timespan means that while I can enjoy a much-needed physical break, my mind is still racing with ideas on the verge of being unearthed. I benefit much from sorting through these and thinking with you, and as always, consider myself very lucky. You each mention being jolted and throttled, good news amid an assortment of lulls. I'd been searching for such ferocity all throughout the festival until finally I encountered Rose Glass’s Saint Maud, which left me so petrified and...
- 9/16/2019
- MUBI
Rose Glass’ taut and trembling “Saint Maud” transmutes a young woman’s spiritual crisis into such a refined story of body horror that genre fans might feel like they’re having a religious experience. Of course, even the most overzealous viewers will find there’s always room for doubt — and that’s where the Devil gets in. A palliative care nurse in a dreary town somewhere along the British coast, the intensely devout Maud (a divine Morfydd Clark) is doing her best to seal the area around her soul. That seems to be one hell of a struggle. Soft-spoken but vibrating with serial killer intensity, Maud seldom opens her mouth when she’s not talking to God inside her acetic little apartment, reminding her lord and savior that she was meant for something greater.
“Never waste your pain” is the closest thing that Maud has to a motto, and while...
“Never waste your pain” is the closest thing that Maud has to a motto, and while...
- 9/12/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Around halfway through “Saint Maud,” writer-director Rose Glass constructs a cinematic wince moment for the ages, involving nails, bare feet and a young woman with a Christ complex far too big for her own snappable body. “Never waste your pain,” she says, and this short, sharp needle-jab of a horror parable from bleakest Britain takes the same advice. Glass is sparing with her shocks, but knows how to make them count, like sudden voltage surges in the fritzed, volatile machinery of her narrative, each one leaving the protagonist a little more anxiously damaged than before. A meek, devoutly Christian palliative nurse, with an open wound of a past and what she believes is a higher calling for the future, Maud is like Carrie White and her mother Margaret rolled into one unholy holy terror; as played with brilliant, blood-freezing intensity by Morfydd Clark, she’s a genre anti-heroine to cherish,...
- 9/9/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
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