There’snothing quite like a road trip movie. The premise of them is inherently rich, as you’re able to have your protagonists meet a plethora of unique people while also being trapped together for a prolonged period.Road trip movies encapsulate the motto that it’s the journey that matters — not the destination — andBleeding Lovecertainly proves that to be true.
Bleeding Love
What Is ‘Bleeding Love’ About?
The premise ofBleeding Love(not to be confused with the similarly titled but very differentLove Lies Bleeding) is simple: an unnamed father and daughter (played by real-life father-daughter duoEwanandClara McGregor) go on a road trip. Their relationship, however, is anything but.The two aren’t particularly close, as the father struggled with alcoholism when his daughter was younger and eventually left her and her mother.He’s now sober and remarried with another child, but his rehabilitation is salt in the wound for his daughter, who didn’t get to reap the benefits of him turning things around. What’s more, the daughter seems to be following her father’s rocky path, having recently overdosed herself at 20. Though the father tells his daughter he’s taking her to stay with an artist friend of his so she can find inspiration to paint again, we quickly learn he’s not telling the whole truth. This leads to an explosive reckoning between where hard truths and their painful past must be confronted.
Bleeding Lovehas its fair share of clichés, asindie dramas about addiction and tortured artists are a dime a dozen.But thankfully, the film frequently builds on its tropes in interesting and impactful ways.Many films often send the message that to be creative, you have to suffer and that relying on drugs and alcohol is par for the course.Bleeding Loveis refreshing in that it sends the message that health and healing can be fulfilling, too. It rarely feels preachy or cheesy, either. Even the moments that could veer into that territory (like when the daughter watches her father talk about his regrets during an AA meeting) manage to be authentic and grounded thanks to its performances.
Emma Westenberg’s direction is somehow highly stylized while still having a natural, gritty feel that lends itself well to the genre.The production design and cinematography are intentional, with cool blues dominating nearly every frame, and the saturated colors make the gorgeous landscapes pop. The script and directing choices can be slightly exhausting at times — it definitely wants to let you know it’s a Quirky But Serious Indie Movie — but it mostly works.
‘Bleeding Love’s Leads Steer It in the Right Direction
The strongest aspect ofBleeding Love, however, is, by far, its acting.Ewan McGregor is predictably excellent, elevating occasionally stereotypical material into something raw and affecting.you may feel the love and pride he has for his daughter when he brags about her art and sings with her in the car just as strongly as you can sense the heartbreak and regret he suffers for failing her in her childhood. There’s no doubt he’s made mistakes, but you can’t help empathizing with him anyway, as the hurt he feels when his daughter pushes him away is genuine. The most understated choices are the most gut-wrenching, like when he looks for his daughter in a bar despite the fact such a venue is crawling with temptations.
But it’s his daughter who’s the real star of the film.you’re able to tell what kind of person her character is right away, with her affinity for heavy metal music and the zero shame she feels popping a squat and peeing on the side of the road. The daughter is a natural performer, constantly putting on a tough and theatrical air, but Clara McGregor manages to imbue her with an undeniable vulnerability. One of the most powerful moments comes when she jumps into a motel’s closed pool. Though she taunts her dad for being a scaredy-cat, it’s clear that, under the surface, she’s desperate for him to join her — for him to choose to stay and connect with her. You never doubt for a second that her rebelliousness is a true cry for help and that her self-destruction stems from a place of hurt.
The duo’s real-life chemistry translates well in both the fun, lighthearted moments and the more intense ones.There are nice bits of levity in their shared dark sense of humor, like when the father points out it’s ironic she’s vegan when cocaine is snuck into the country up the backsides of animals. “That’s so interesting, but I don’t really do cocaine,” she quips in response. (She prefers to stick to “opioids and benzos.”) Their fights are brutal, with neither holding anything back, which ultimately makes the ending that much more powerful. There’s a clever moment of symmetry towards its conclusion, too, that smartly and subtly highlights how the journey has changed them and drives its main point — that you have to actively choose to try and fix things in life — home.
Some of ‘Bleeding Love’s Detours Work Better Than Others
The McGregors paint such a vivid portrait of this father and daughter’s dynamic that the choice to rely on flashbacks to further flesh out their past feels wholly unnecessary.They detract from what’s going on in the present day, hammering home thoughts that were already implied and rehashing memories we already got told through dialogue. Not only do they look cheaper than the rest of the movie, but they also cheapen the main timeline’s effectiveness, too, slowing down the pacing. One wishes Westenberg trusted the audience to understand and feel the story without them.
This can be said for some of the characters the father and daughter meet on their many stops. Remember what I said about the script making sure we don’t forget this is supposed to be a quirky time? That’s especially apparent in the first 20 minutes or so.The film gets off to a slow, meandering startwhen the father and daughter get towed by a whacky driver who loves guns and astrology and end up at her graffiti artist nephew’s birthday party. We spend far too long getting to the narrative point of this, which is to see the first serious conflict between the father and daughter. This time would have been better used fleshing out more of their important relationships, like with the daughter’s mom or the father’s new wife, as those relationships are more interesting and more consequential as well.
Still, there is one encounter that reigns supreme. It starts like a gag — the father is trying to find an open pharmacy after his daughter’s private areas get stung while peeing on the side of the road. A sex worker, Tommy (Vera Bulder), attempts to solicit him, but he ends up asking for her help checking out his daughter to make sure she’s going to be okay. Tommy quickly proves herself smart and resourceful, immediately identifying the issue as a spider bite and defusing the situation. The three of them form an unexpected and brief but beautiful bond, with Tommy revealing her Broadway dreams and the daughter opening up about her painting.While some of the other stops the father and daughter make feel contrived, this one is surprising and natural, all of this due to Bulder’s charm and charisma.One can’t help but wish Tommy had joined the duo earlier and stayed a bit longer.
Bleeding Loveis an imperfect film with uneven writing that can’t overcome all of its clichés, but it sets itself apart often enough that it doesn’t feel stale.Above all, the movie is a showcase for the McGregor team, and it more than delivers on that front, with their powerhouse performances allowing us to forgive some of the more tedious directing choices.Clara McGregor asserts herself as a rising star to watch, as does Bulder, who makes the most of her short screen time.Bleeding Lovewill break your heart, warm it up, and might just makeyou want to call your dad.
‘Bleeding Love’ can’t escape cliché completely, but Ewan and Clara McGregor’s excellent performances still make this one worth a watch.
Bleeding Loveis in theaters and available to stream on VOD in the U.S.
