Vance (Willem Dafoe) is a greaser in the 50's. He rides his motorcycle into a remote roadside diner. More bikers arrive on their way to Daytona. This is written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow and Monty Montgomery. Monty seems to have gone on to produce documentaries. I have to assume that this has a lot of Bigelow's fingerprints in her first full length feature. It's a lot of nostalgia for the 50's bikers but not necessarily the narrative drive to give the story tension. It does have Dafoe and the other actors are not that bad. The issue is that they are luxuriating and stylizing but the story moves very slowly. In one section, a girl literally takes Dafoe on a ride in her T-bird. Quite frankly, she should be introduced earlier. She needs to be the stranded motorist in the beginning. She needs to be the second lead of the movie. Tarver needs to be a bigger threat. He needs more screen time. He needs a bigger actor. He needs to be bigger. This movie needs more violence early. It needs an earlier dose of intensity. It needs more drive.
Review of The Loveless
