Frank & Lola (2016)

A psychosexual noir love story, set in Las Vegas and Paris, about love, obsession, sex, betrayal, revenge and, ultimately, the search for redemption. Frank & Lola is a crime mystery starring Michael Shannon, Imogen Poots and Justin Long and somehow it has a 6/10 in IMDb and a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes and unfortunately even with some pretty good talented people in here it's still a dull drama with talent getting wasted and every scene just repeats it self it goes from cooking to sex to cooking to sex and on and on and this is why i can't take critics seriously and unfortunately nobody could save this not even Shannon himself. (3/10)

This was Michael Shannon's show as Frank, but the plot developed mysteries surrounded by character Lola that played by Imogen Poots. Basically the entire film is about these two and after the halfway mark, another character joins them to add more suspense. Well, it was the story of a decently succeeded chef and his new girlfriend. Their relationship strengthens in a short period of time. They think they know each other enough, but one day a new secret revealed from Lola's past. That's the beginning of everything in this film, following many turns in the narration, the story reaches its end.The major issue was too much suspense. The writing should have been simplified. So not everybody easily understands the film or the purposes of film scenes/events. But it is more revenge based than psychological thriller-drama. That does not mean you can rule out everything else possibilities. Lola is the key and till the final scene she frequently diverts the story developments to give a new perspective on where the film is heading. So definitely not predictable film, particularly not the conclusion. This is exclusively for neo-noir fans. But for others it is one time watchable film.5/10

"Frank and Lola" is a an independent romance drama thriller directed by Matthew Ross, and starring Michael Shannon (Frank), Imogen Poots (Lola), and Justin Long (Keith). The film follows the characters of Frank and Lola. Frank is an uptight chef who takes pride in his cooking and the culinary arts, and Lola is a young eccentric woman who makes dress designs. The film starts with the two in their relationship and as the film goes on explains how the two actually met. One night Lola comes home crying telling Frank that she "made a mistake." This is where the film takes a dark turn and gives us an eerily disturbing look at what a dysfunctional relationship can be like.Right off the bat the acting is great. Shannon was perfect as the character of Frank, this obsessed, uptight and disturbing individual. Shannon was on fire in 2016 with "Midnight Special", "Elvis & Nixon", and "Nocturnal Animals", and this film just shows how much of a great actor he really is. Poots was great as Lola, her performance really sold the role and was done very well. Justin Long was good in the movie too as this obnoxious, wealthy, charismatic douche. The cinematography in the film was beautiful. In a way the film looked very much like a Nicolas Winding Refn film (specifically "Only God Forgives" and "The Neon Demon") There was a lot of bright reds, yellows, and blues, it was gorgeous to look at and never took me out of the film.Matthew Ross proves to be a very stylized director with great vision and execution. He makes time to develop every character in the film no matter how big or small their role was, and justifies the characters actions.A few issues I had was the relationship between the two characters of Frank and Lola. Their relationship is never really explored on why they "love" each other so much and how they're still able to be together when all these awful things start happening to them. Another issue is that the film gets a little repetitive during the halfway mark which made me question the believability of "that" happening twice.Overall "Frank and Lola" is a well executed film with great performances by Michael Shannon and Imogen Poots, and a great directorial debut for Matthew Ross.

The way the director of this film described this movie is that it's a noir psycho sexual thriller. And that is basically what this is, there is a lot of passion, lust and the distance love can drive a person. But what really got to me is how it brought in sincerity when it comes to love mixed in with thrilling elements. Because the cinematography brings about quite a bit of tension during certain scenes. Not bad for a director that didn't have much mainstream success when it comes to his films. Even this project took quite a bit of convincing to get the green light. This isn't a film that has a lot of technical merits but it really does come off as a personal film. It's a film that mixes in parts when it comes to the director's experiences and his emulations of films he has seen. I really enjoyed the direction of this story. Despite it being simple it kept me engaged with the twists and turns while also integrating sincerity. I guess it's because the story is personal to a certain extent to the director, the characters just came off as very sincere despite some of the backstabbing that goes on in it. I also loved Michael Shannon's performance in this, as this sensitive, romantic and stable chef that is in love with a younger woman. Overall, this is a personal film from the director I thoroughly enjoyed and it's one of the most romantic movies I have seen this year.9/10