Frank & Lola

Greetings again from the darkness. Michael Shannon continues to be one of the most interesting actors working today. In this first feature from writer/director Matthew Ross, Mr. Shannon is the titular Frank, and his pained facial expressions elevate this neo-noir into a dark and intriguing exposition on male obsession and sexual jealousy.

The abrupt opening scene finds Frank and Lola (Imogen Poots) frolicking in bed after obviously just meeting for the first time that evening. We (and Lola) know we are in for something a bit different when Frank slams on the breaks and states, "Maybe we should wait until next time." Lola is taken aback, and we are soon watching this relationship develop … while simultaneously noting the subtle signs of troubled pasts for each of them.

Frank is a talented French chef and Lola is just starting her career as a fashion designer. His dark side flashes a bit more often, but before Lola ever comes clean, we realize there is unhappiness in her past. They seem to be two tortured souls in a jinxed relationship.

Filmmaker Ross keeps us (and Frank) on our toes as the script seems to continually offer yet another deeply held secret or mysterious character. Justin Long plays Lola's new employer, while the rarely-seen-these-days Rosanna Arquette plays Lola's name-dropping mother. However, it's Michael Nyquist (so great in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as the suave Frenchman with ties to Lola's past and present that really makes things interesting … and somehow even darker. His wife is played by the terrific French actress Emmanuelle Devos. Her screen time is limited, yet crucial.

The film was well received at Sundance, and it shares the creepiness of such films as Basic Instinct, Body Heat and Night Moves. Rarely do contemporary movies go as deep into the male psyche of obsession as this one, and the throw-back atmosphere is a perfect fit for the tone. Not many actors simmer like Michael Shannon, and the story offers him the perfect vehicle to remind us that everyone longs to be loved - even when we aren't sure we deserve it.

This film tells the story of a Las Vegas chef, who has a beautiful girlfriend. One day, he discovers that she is cheating on him. She explains the unfortunate truth, and he decides to sell revenge from the perpetrator.

"Frank & Lola" shows interesting characters who are real and relevant to daily lives. Frank wants to protect his girlfriend from harm, and would do anything to achieve that. The girlfriend Lola, on the other hard, appears to be vulnerable and victimised. As the story goes on, more truth is unveiled, but viewers are left to wonder what exactly is the truth. I sympathise with Frank, but don't understand him.

I'm a fan of Michael Shannon, but he is nobody's idea of a sex symbol. While a fantastic character actor, he doesn't do well in leading roles.

This film is full of cliche's yet manages to go exactly nowhere -- and slowly.

Michael Shannon, one of my favorite actors, works a lot and takes chances with inexperienced directors so there are bound to be some misfires. Frank and Lola is definitely one of the misfires.

Director and writer Matthew Ross blew the beginning and tried to compensate for this early mishap in the editing room. The first twenty minutes, improperly composed, distract from essential character and relationship development necessary to the story's foundation. It is as though a slingshot is never quite pulled back and so the stone simply dribbles to the ground, missing its target.

The actors can not be faulted, the premise is intriguing and the potential for an unusual, impactful film exists here. It is just a disappointment that it never comes together despite the great actors involved.

I do not recommend this film. The theme of trust in relationships in a story involving jealousy and sexual intrigue should be much more compelling.

"Beware, my Lord, of jealousy, it is the green-eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on." Iago in Othello

Frank (Michael Shannon), a top-rated chef in Vegas, falls for young fashion designer Lola (Imogen Poots) and that's the beginning and end. That is, his uneventful life just became upended by a girl he needs to trust but doesn't appear to merit it. Such is the conflict and drama of this small, tense, and satisfying drama with just a hint of thriller.

While Frank & Lola is a modern romance fraught with uncertainty because the principals orbit by themselves hoping to collide with love rather than let it ripen. The not-so-likely love between this older man and younger lost soul doesn't so much move on lust as it does on the couple's passion to do the right thing in the face of their defaults.

Lola's one-night stand and her admission to Frank start him into a spell of mistrust that propels the film thereafter. The film's center is in Shannon's believably smart man tossed in jealousy and mistrust that leads to violence and uncertain rapprochement with her.

Poots is marvelous as a lost soul looking in the wrong places--her eyes are the most soulful and vulnerable in cinema today. Shannon's minimalistic acting relays the perfect hard-boiled hero of few words. But be careful, he can see into your heart and with a word or two tell the whole sordid details of your innocence lost.

Frank & Lola is heavy on engaging dialogue and light on thriller action. Its strength is relaying how little we know about the ones closest to us.