The rational response to getting turned down is to move on, but Lola Stone isn’t what anyone would call rational. When Lola is refused by Brent, who is going to the end of school dance with his girlfriend, she and her father kidnap him to host their own twisted vision of the evening. The film plays out in sequences of vivid torture intercut with scenes of fruitless searching by friends and family. As Lola and Daddy’s plans for Brent unfold, the tone grows increasingly frantic and hopeless. A cacophony of brutality, the harsh violence of the film is paired with wince inducing sound design and juxtaposed with a soft refrain of the Australian country hit “not pretty enough.” The Loved Ones is a terrifying, visceral experience that explores themes of grief, love, and the dark corners of humanity.
