Swift @ The Movies: Lamentable ‘Lola’

Published 12:00 pm Friday, March 29, 2024

Every now and then I like to dip my toes into the independent movie waters — for my own sanity.

After watching countless, multimillion-dollar, soulless corporate rush-jobs week after week, you think to yourself “Well, the no-budget filmmakers out there HAVE to be making better movies, aren’t they?”

Well, if our movie of the week “Lola” is any indication, the answer is … not really.

It’s not just that “Lola” is a depressing and disheartening movie. It’s that it’s a depressing and disheartening movie that just sort of wallows in the myriad miseries of the main character. The end result isn’t a character study as much as it is a character autopsy — and isn’t that just plain perverse?

One guy described “Lola” as a “slice of life” picture. That’s codeword for “nothing happens in this movie, but when it does, it’s really, really bad.” Indeed, the titular “Lola” — played with only the slightest hint of actual humanity by writer-director Nicola Peltz Beckham — goes through so many unfathomable horrors over the course of 90 minutes that you have to wonder what the point of the whole thing was beyond “inspire cynical dread in whoever watches it.” Of course, there’s nothing wrong with making bleak movies, but somewhere in there you have to have SOMETHING that resembles a moral or a point. Otherwise, you’re just swimming through sorrow and suffering for entertainment, which is kinda’ cruel and sadistic, if you ask me.

There are points in the film where it feels like “Lola” is headed somewhere. Without getting too specific here, let’s just say Lola’s nighttime job puts her in contact with a LOT of dangerous and unsavory customers, and since her day job is already working at a convenience store, that narrows it down a bit.Her mama is a super religious chainsmoker who treats her and her younger brother like garbage and she dreams of making enough money to move to Dallas so her talented sibling can go to a special school for super artistic kids. But since her boyfriend is a drug dealer and everybody at work tattles on her when she steals inventory, that goal seems VERY unobtainable and unrealistic.So what does she end up doing to make money? Well, it doesn’t take a Mensa candidate to figure this one out. And that’s where the parade of misfortunes is just getting started.I really can’t tell you anything that happens after the 50-minute mark of the movie, since that would ruin everything for you. What I can tell you in general terms, though, is that Lola goes through so many trials and tribulations that I wonder how she doesn’t have a nervous breakdown. And if the out of nowhere ending is supposed to represent a bastion of hope, it’s such a sudden reversal of fortune that it almost feels like a cop-out. Not even Tyler Perry has the audacity to pitch last second reprieves at the audience like this movie does. Unsatisfying is one way to put it — insulting is probably a better choice of words. Another thing that peeved me about this movie? They never really come out and tell you WHEN it’s supposed to be taking place. There are no smartphones or tablets anywhere, so it’s definitely pre-Recession, but the soundtrack is all over the place. You might hear one song from 1997, then another from 2003. And if you’re having to use the logos for soup cans to pinpoint the chronological trappings of a movie, you KNOW the filmmakers just plain didn’t care. I wanted to like the movie, or at least appreciate it, for its DIY approach. But the story is just too uneven and heavy-handed, with the performances leaving a lot to be desired from the entire ensemble cast.

And a pity party like this is most definitely NOT my idea of a good time at the cineplex.

At my most generous, the best I can afford “Lola” is a substandard TWO PIECES OF POPCORN OUT OF FOUR rating. If I wanted to feel crummy about the world at large for 90 minutes straight, I’d just go on Twitter.