Movies & TV / Reviews
Cruel Love Review
Image Credit: Mad World Creative
Loading...Cruel Love Review
Christian Oliver– Ivan
Elisabeth Harnois– Julia
Bai Ling– Mei Li
Johnny Ramey– Jake
Ken Davitian– Harry
Matthew Pohlkamp– Robert
Diamond Marie Buckley– Patrice
Ricco Ross– Lincoln
(check out the rest of the cast here)
Directed by Nick Lyon
Screenplay by Ron Peer and Nick Lyon, based on a story by Nick Lyon
Produced by Nick Lyon Films
Not Rated
Runtime– 100 minutes
https://www.nicklyon.com/cruellove
Cruel Love is currently available to rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime and to stream for free on the Fawesome platform
Cruel Love, directed by Nick Lyon and currently available to rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime and stream for free on the Fawesome platform, is a well-made low-budget thriller about a woman that finds herself in a harrowing situation after falling in love with a man who may not be who he claims to be. While the movie doesn’t really do anything particularly new in terms of its story or plot, the movie does tell its story incredibly well. Cruel Love also has a fantastic and appealing cast, especially leads Christian Oliver and Elisabeth Harnois.
Cruel Love stars Elisabeth Harnois as Julia, a professional designer working in Los Angeles that has her purse stolen one afternoon while walking down the street. Before she can call the police, a man she doesn’t know but who witnessed the crime chases the purse snatcher into a parking garage where he is then beaten and mugged by the purse snatcher and several other men. The Good Samaritan, who Julia eventually finds out is named Ivan (Christian Oliver), has his own bag stolen, but he is able to get back Julia’s purse. Julia calls 911, and Ivan is transported to a local hospital. While in the hospital, Julia finds out that Ivan has multiple injuries as a result of the attack, is a Ukrainian immigrant that lost his family in the war with Russia and just now lost all of his documentation when he was mugged trying to help Julia. Julia tells Ivan that she will pay all of his hospital bills and will take care of him in her home when he is discharged from the hospital. Ivan tells Julia that he doesn’t want to impose on her, but she insists and he eventually agrees to her help.
So then some stuff happens, Ivan is discharged from the hospital, and Julia takes him back to her home to take care of him as he recovers from his injuries. At first, Julia insists that she’s just repaying Ivan for his kindness and heroism. She feels it’s the least she can do for him. As time passes and the more they interact, though, the closer they become. It isn’t long before Julia and Ivan fall in love. It’s a relationship that should work, as both Julia and Ivan are single and have experienced major loss in their lives. Julia lost her husband Eric to cancer, and Ivan lost his family in the war in Ukraine. Julia’s assistant Patrice (Diamond Marie Buckley) is all for Julia finding love and potential happiness in Ivan, and Julia’s brother Robert (Matthew Pohlkamp) is generally okay with the her sister’s relationship, too. The only one who isn’t okay with Julia’s relationship with Ivan is Jake (Johnny Ramey), an old family friend that has had a crush on Julia for a long time. Jake doesn’t believe Ivan’s story about what happened to him in Ukraine and suspects that Ivan is not who he claims to be. Jake wants to tell Julia what he feels, but he doesn’t know how to do it (Jake eventually figures out how to tell Julia what he suspects is going on and it doesn’t go well at all).
So then some more stuff happens, Julia and Ivan get closer and closer, Ivan finds out that his immigration status has changed, and Julia decides to ask him to marry her so he doesn’t have to go back to Ukraine. With the help of Ivan’s lawyer Harry (Ken Davitian), Julia and Ivan figure out how to proceed with the marriage and whatever paperwork that needs to be filed so Ivan won’t have to leave. This all seems like a big scheme of some sort, and it kind of is, but Julia and Ivan love one another. Getting married would make sense for them even if Ivan wasn’t experiencing immigration issues. And so Julia and Ivan get married, and it seems like everyone is going to live happily ever after.
And so Julia and Ivan begin their life together as a married couple, and what seemed like a perpetually happy life quickly turns into something else entirely. Ivan’s attitude and demeanor starts to change. Ivan starts engaging in shady actions that, when Julia finds out about them, makes her suspicious of him. Julia doesn’t want to be suspicious of her new husband, but at the same time what the heck is she supposed to think when he starts secretly signing up for credit cards using her name and financial information? Did Julia make a mistake getting tangled up with Ivan?
As Julia tries to figure all of that out, we, the audience, know that Julia should pay more attention to her suspicions. I won’t say what exactly is going on here, but as soon as you find out that Ivan is friendly with a woman named Mei Li, who is portrayed by the great Bai Ling, you know some shady shit is going down. Some seriously shady, underhanded shit.
The pacing and general tone of Cruel Love is damn near perfect. The first quarter or so of the movie feels like a “standard” Lifetime or Hallmark romance movie that also somehow has a violent edge to it. The mugging of Ivan is way more brutal than you expect it to be, and the more you find out about Ivan’s background in Ukraine, it makes you think about the ongoing real life conflict. In a way, it’s like Ivan’s past isn’t really the past, it’s something that is happening right now. Watching Julia and Ivan’s relationship develop is heartwarming as they clearly have chemistry and you want that relationship to succeed. When it’s revealed that Ivan isn’t who Julia thought he was and we find out who he really is and what’s really going on, the movie develops a true sense of unease. When will Julia find out what’s actually going on, and when she does, what is she going to do? What the heck is going to happen next? I think the movie would likely play better if it could be about five or so minutes shorter, especially in the middle, but at the same time I don’t know what should be cut or reduced.
The look of the movie is also brilliantly deceiving. Again, when the movie begins, Cruel Love looks like any number of Lifetime or Hallmark TV movies. The only major difference that doesn’t hit as a major difference until you realize that the movie isn’t a romance story is how Los Angeles is rainy and damp when the movie begins. How often do you see that kind of thing in a movie that takes place in Los Angeles and starts off in the day time? As the movie progresses, that standard Lifetime/Hallmark vibe starts to get darker and darker and helps add to the general unease of the story. And when incredibly violent things start happening (and there are some incredibly violent things that do happen), you will be shocked by them. I know I wasn’t expecting any of that.
The casting is nothing short of phenomenal. Christian Oliver does a great job as Ivan. At first, Ivan seems like a nice guy who did a heroic thing for a complete stranger. A very good “Good Samaritan.” And the more he talks about his life in Ukraine, what happened to his family, your empathy only grows for him. It makes complete sense as to why Julia fell for him the way she did. But then later on in the movie, you find out that Ivan isn’t exactly who he claims to be, and you start to wonder if you can trust anything you know about him. Oliver is incredibly charismatic, both when he’s “good guy Ivan” and when he becomes “some other Ivan.” Oliver also has tremendous chemistry with Harnois, which helps make their relationship always seem plausible. Cruel Love is Oliver’s last movie, as he passed away days after completing filming his part. It’s a goddamn shame that Ivan is his final performance. But I can say that it’s a fine example of what he could do as an actor and as a personality. What other sorts of movies would he have done in the future and just how good would he have been?
Elisabeth Harnois does a fantastic job as Julia. Julia is a successful woman with a great job and supportive friends and family who, at the same time, carries a profound grief over the loss of her husband. When she meets Ivan, a man who appears to be suffering through a similar life experience on top of the beating he received during the mugging, it seems impossible that she would meet someone out of the blue that is beyond compatible with her. Sure, some of her friends are worried that she might be moving too fast with this guy she just met, but at the same time they also want Julia to be happy (Jake is the one that is the most suspicious of what’s going on. To him, something seems off about the whole thing). Harnois has awesome chemistry with Oliver, and she also has amazing “friends” chemistry with her assistant Patrice played by Diamond Marie Buckley. You can see why everyone likes her. Harnois makes you want to root for Julia, both when she’s experiencing the best thing to happen her in a long, long time, and when things aren’t as they first appeared. You’re going to love Harnois.
Bai Ling does a fine job as Mei Li. You’re probably not going to like Mei Li all that much, and that’s by design. Bai Ling knows exactly how to make Mei Li an absolutely terrible person that you can’t stop watching. There’s a part of the movie where Mei Li takes on a persona that is the direct opposite of the “real” Mei Li, and it’s fun watching Ling become someone else. Even if what she’s doing is ultimately just a big lie, it’s still a joy to watch her switch things up.
Ken Davitian has a few nice scenes as Harry, Ivan’s immigration lawyer. At first, Harry comes off as just a lawyer who is also, somehow, a nice guy. He doesn’t come off as skeezy despite seemingly operating out of an office that looks like it’s in a basement. But you know after his second scene that Harry can’t just be some lawyer that likes to do nice things for immigrants. There has to be something else going on with him. I won’t say what’s actually going on with him, but I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised by what’s actually going on with him. Davitian is also the funniest actor in the movie (that isn’t a surprise, either. I mean, he is Azamat Bagatov, after all).
Diamond Marie Buckley is easily the biggest surprise in the movie as Patrice, Julia’s assistant. Smart, funny, and full of unexpected energy, you’ll wonder why the heck Patrice doesn’t figure more into the plot of the movie towards the end. She has great “friends” chemistry with Julia, and she also comes off like the kind of friend that would do anything to help a friend in need. And Julia eventually becomes a friend very much in need of assistance. I absolutely wanted to see more from her.
And Johnny Ramey knows exactly what to do as Jake, the concerned friend and eventual man of action. You do sort of wonder what his deal is with Julia, just how much of a crush does he have on her? Is he going to get weird and creepy when he finds out that Julia really likes Ivan and is going to marry him? Thankfully, Jake isn’t weird at all, and I think you’ll be happy that he takes the action that he takes (Julia is certainly happy about it).
I would have loved to see more from both Ricco Ross, who plays Lincoln, as well as Matthew Pohlkamp, who plays Julia’s brother Robert. I suspect that had Cruel Love been a four hour movie/two night mini-series type deal, Lincoln and Robert probably would have had more to do in the “night two” part of the story. Just a guess on my part.
Cruel Love is a top notch low-budget thriller on just about every level. A great cast, expert direction from Lyon, and a story that, while nothing the world hasn’t seen before, is still incredibly engaging and entertaining. That, in the end, is what you want out of any movie. I loved Cruel Love, and I think you will, too.
See Cruel Love. See it, see it, see it. Cruel Love is currently available to rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime and to stream for free on the Fawesome platform.
So what do we have here?
Dead bodies: 3
Explosions: None.
Nudity?: None, and I am kind of surprised by that.
Doobage: A rainy day in the big city. Purse snatching. A foot chase. A serious beating and mugging inside of a parking garage. Talking to a doctor. Unknown bag stealing. Putting peroxide on a wound. Rib wrapping. A big bag of men’s clothes. A red couch. A blue couch with a yellow pillow on it. Piano playing. A hot shower. A locket. An emotional breakdown. Wine drinking. Impromptu dancing. Off screen sex. Talk about a boat mechanic. Multiple Zoom calls with a lawyer. Pool cleaning. Multiple financial statements. A second house. A big party. Marriage. Off screen car buying. Rug vacuuming. Soccer on the TV. Housekeeper hooey. Pool hooey. Hot iron to the stomach. Different lawyer meeting. A sleazebag hotel. Multiple cigarette burns. A trashed house. An argument. Person throwing themselves down the stairs. An arrest. A holding cell. Restraining order hooey. More soccer on the TV. A bowling bag full of money. Bullet to the head. Attempted burglary. Bullet to the gut. Bullet to the back. Rock to the head. Shovel to the face. A drowning.
Kim Richards? None.
Gratuitous: An emergency room. A rooftop meeting place. Multiple flashbacks. Pasta for dinner. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Dancing which leads to sex. A hands free conversation while driving. Shower sex. Hot air balloons. Wedding photos. A Google Drop Box. Sunscreen. Stuff about the Violence Against Women Act. A crisp one hundred dollar bill. Talk about Robert DeNiro in The Untouchables (1987). Multiple guns that you just don’t expect to see.
Best lines: “A collapsed lung is no joke.” “Do you remember me?” “You purse lady?” “I do not want to interrupt.” “Aren’t you worried? No, not at all. This room is going to be beautiful. No, I’m talking about the Ukrainian.” “I can get a homeless guy to beat me up for ten dollars.” “Pain hurts so so deep. But life must go on.” “Here is to life. To new beginnings and to the ones we’ve lost.” “You’re here early. And still alive. I take it your Ukrainian visitor isn’t a serial killer?” “In Ukraine, everyone dances.” “Julia, it is important to work to live, not live to work.” “Simon, I don’t want to sell.” “Do I detect a European accent?” “He’s sexy in a sort of dark foreigner kind of way.” “This is a big house.” “So, am I going to be invited to the wedding?” “Patience, Harry. We’re going in deep.” “That’s it! We’re getting married!” “Oh, he’s so sexy. Agreed.” “I hope she signed a prenup.” “I can’t believe we are married.” “I knew you were hiding some deep kinks.” “So, now I watch soccer.” “This was the best Chinese food I’ve ever had.” “What is going on with you?” “Have you been abusing Ivan?” “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe this is happening.” “You might as well give it up.” “Hey! I’m going to the Philippines!” “Never cheat a cheater.” “I can’t believe I’m staking out my own house.” “Look! You’ve been vindicated! Better call your HOA.” “We’re rich! We’re rich!” “That was one hell of a date.”
