One of the reasons I think movies are such a powerful and transformative medium for artistic expression is that the boundaries of genre keep expanding and changing. Production companies like A24, Neon and Janus Films realize that horror, crime dramas, noir, science fiction and fantasy shouldn’t be treated like lesser forms of the medium. Instead continue pushing deeper into the borders of the genres, finding uncharted territory to explore.
It’s the same thing with literature. Aside from a very few notable names such as Shirley Jackson and Ira Levin, horror was considered the slums of the book world until Stephen King showed up in the 1970s and, simply by becoming one of the widest-read novelists in history, made horror a respectable genre. It takes visionaries to shape how society treats an art form and the new crop of filmmakers has some truly remarkable voices to move us into the future.
This week two films have been released that take what could have been simple, direct-to- digital stories and elevated them into genuine works of art that offer opposite ends of the same thematic coin. Dev Patel’s directorial debut, “Monkey Man,” is a stylish revenge action thriller in the vein of “John Wick,” but with a deep emotional core and rage-fueled criticism of India’s caste system and disgust for nationalism. Rose Glass’ sophomore feature (after the truly upsetting and remarkable “Saint Maud”) is the pitch-black neo noir crime thriller, “Love Lies Bleeding,” which spits in the face of the patriarchy, lights the typical romantic drama on fire and dances in the flames.
“Monkey Man” tells the story of The Kid (also Patel), an underground boxer in a monkey mask making a living throwing fights and getting beaten half to death. Secretly, he’s on a mission to find the men responsible for destroying his village and killing his mother. His bloody hunt for revenge takes him across Mumbai to the richest parties, the holiest temples and the seediest tenements, but nothing will stop his single-minded pursuit of destruction.
Aside from the soulful performance from Patel, the sociopolitical context of Mumbai and the open disgust toward how the transgender community is treated in India, “Monkey Man” is a straightforward revenge tale focused on kinetic action sequences and chases. But the true center of the film lies in those differences. As a child, The Kid was regaled with stories from his mother about the god Hanuman, who has some monkey features. Fighting in the monkey mask keeps him connected to the roots of his mother so he remembers what he’s striving for.
The mythical aspect of the film, along with the Ardhanarishvara (half-male and half-female form of the deity Shiva) transgender temple that he helps protect, give the movie texture and a deeply gorgeous center of compassion and empathy that action movies don’t normally possess.
“Love Lies Bleeding” takes that same backbone of texture and expands it even further by pushing the boundaries of the genre and becoming its own original unicorn. Kristen Stewart plays Lou, an unhappy and isolated gym manager who meets and immediately falls for Jackie (the instant movie star Katy O’Brian), a bodybuilder searching for a better life. Amid a redneck noir background of steroids, gun smuggling, murder-for-hire and sweaty lovemaking, Jackie and Lou will either find love or die trying.
The movies are both potent glimpses into two deeply disparate filmmakers working fearlessly within the borders of their respective genres and choosing to ignore their limitations. Both beautifully magnify their deeply personal stories into archetypal deconstructions of legend and the reworking of social ignorance into communities where the marginalized have agency. “Monkey Man” finds the feminine core in masculine dogma and “Love Lies Bleeding” thumbs its nose at the masculine interpretation of femininity. “Monkey Man” takes its pound of flesh from the colonizer. “Love Lies Bleeding” smiles as it makes the patriarchy afraid for its own power.
Both movies do great jobs of making us question our own self-imposed limitations and judgements. Meaningful art should always make you feel something (even if it’s bad), but truly great art helps you shed a skin that doesn’t fit you anymore. It’s easy to describe “Monkey Man” as a Terrence Malick-inspired riff on “John Wick” or that “Love Lies Bleeding” is a sapphic remix of early Coen brothers on literal steroids. But they’re more than that. Just as we’re more than anyone expects of us, either.
This article appears in Source Weekly April 11, 2024.
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