Rainsford: Love Me Like You Hate Me

Love Me Like You Hate Me is a beautiful short film that calls video hosting, sharing, and services platform Vimeo home. Margaret Qualley & Shia LaBeouf share with us an emotive and electric choreography that is beyond words.

This film is truly a gem.

You can feel their love as well see their disconnect.

Normally I would give anything I didn't like ONE star, but there is enough craftsmanship to give it 4 stars. It was literally 10 minutes of the same repeated love dance over and over again. There is no story. if you enjoy abstract art without a story then you may like this. I just think we live in a world today where people PRETEND to like things, or believe they are pressured into liking things that are on its face not very good. Perhaps it is a reflection of the ever increasing human disconnect and living artificial lives online.

I was far more interested in the music that was playing along which I found out was Rainsford, Margaret Qualley's sister, who played the co-lead next to Shia.

It was essentially a 10 minute music video, but could have been 3 minutes without losing the spirit of it. Maybe I would have given it more stars. It would have been even better had it ended with learning one of the characters had died or left the other one and it was about lost love or something. Something, ANYTHING, would have been better than the repetitiveness.

Love Me Like You Hate Me is a beautifully choreographed dance between Margaret Qualley and Shia LaBeouf. We are presented with two alternative viewpoints at the same time, showing the dual nature of the protagonists and the two contradicting themes: love and hate. The camera work is flawless and takes us right into the action. The earthen color palettes of both scenes add to the mood and work almost like a photo negative.

Margaret Qualley and Shia LaBeouf both present us with honest, captivating, fearless and self confident performances. The acting is fitting and well paced. The beauty of Margaret Qualley is only eclipsed by the film itself.

The sound work is perfect as well, starting with breathing and an electric organ, which seamlessly transitions into the beautiful song "Love Me Like You Hate Me" by artist Rainsford (Rainey Qualley).

The short film and the song are an ideal match, letting me wonder which one was first conceived.

The film ends again with breathing as well as the electric organ, expressing the circular nature of the themes.

For me this short film is about finding happiness in relationships even when life is hard sometimes and director Luke Turner couldn't have done a better job. 10/10.

We shouldn't cancel Shia LeBeouf. He's a human being who has owned and been open about where his baggage comes from. Watch Honey Boy and this video and have a heart.