The Loveless

(Blue Underground, 11.16.2004)

With at least 2 certified cult classics under her belt (Near Dark, Point Break), Kathryn Bigelow is one of the most significant female action directors...ever. That's partly because few other women have tried to do what she does. It's also because she makes visually beautiful films with the occasional poetic flourish uncharacteristic of action filmmaking and pretty much everything else out there. Co-directed and co-written by Bigelow's college classmate (and future Wild at Heart producer) Monty Montgomery, The Loveless marks the debut of both Bigelow and one of the finest character actors of his generation, Willem Dafoe. Light on story but heavy on attitude and style, the film's 50s-inspired rockabilly flavor is occasionally reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's best work. While Bigelow went on to bigger and better things, this was an interesting start.

With no less than 4 goofy tag lines, the film's theatrical trailer suggests pure exploitation: "we're going nowhere...fast," "hope you don't live where they're going next," "if this keeps up, the gang's gonna have to leave town...if there's any town left to leave" and my personal favorite, "here they come...as tough as they come."

In spite of this peculiar marketing strategy, the audio commentary with Dafoe, Bigelow, and Montgomery emphasizes that the filmmakers had more artistic precedents in mind. Bigelow talks about Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising and Douglas Sirk's Written on the Wind, while Montgomery focuses on the film's noir roots, particularly Detour and Robert Siodmak's The Killers.

The co-directors acknowledge that they were still learning when they made the film and were, therefore, unable to duplicate their influences but The Loveless is still a surprisingly cohesive amalgam of those (seemingly incompatible) sources. The commentary drags in spots but it should definitely not disappoint fans of the film. Dafoe's obvious nostalgia and enthusiasm is particularly charming.

The disc also includes poster and still galleries, the most interesting of which ("Pressbooks") features an alternate promotional campaign with the film's original title, Breakdown (subsequently the title of the 1997 Kurt Russell/Jonathan Mostow collaboration).

With an amazingly clean transfer and straightforward but concise features, this excellent Blue Underground release could resurrect The Loveless from biker movie obscurity. -- Jonathan Doyle