Queer director Mercedes Bryce Morgan’s “Bone Lake” embraces the erotic thriller before shifting gears. It gets going in a nostalgic vein. Morgan has fun imitating the kind of direct-to-video fare that filled up Blockbuster outlets and HBO’s early morning hours, with a tongue-in-cheek sensibility. Unlike other recent attempts to revive the erotic thriller, she never forgets the danger at its core. In the end, “Bone Lake” proves to be more seriously intended than it appears.
The opening scene, in which a nude couple run through the woods as arrows fly at them, sets the tone for much of which follows. It turns out to be the vision of Diego (out gay actor Marco Pigossi), a frustrated novelist who’s just quit his job teaching community college to spend a year writing full time. His fiancée seems happy to support him, but she’s skeptical about the merit of his ideas and talent. As for his take on this situation…well, the fantasy ends with the man getting pierced through his testicles by an arrow.
Diego and his girlfriend Sage (Maddie Hasson) are on their way to a lakeside house in the country. Diego plans to propose to Sage, who plans to spend a year working as an editor to support his dream of finally completing a novel. They believe they’re the only people who’ve rented it for the weekend, but another couple shows up shortly thereafter. Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita) prove themselves to be unashamed of their bodies, to put it mildly. Within minutes of meeting Diego and Sage, they start talking about sex. Their behavior is extremely off-putting. Will showers outside, showing off his penis. They act strangely in other ways, opening up a locked room containing enough sex toys to stock an adult bookstore. This situation puts pressure on Diego and Sage’s relationship, revealing its cracks. When he spies her masturbating during her morning bath, he feels hurt, but he refuses her invitation to join in.
The film’s editing does a lot of heavy lifting. The montage has a wicked sense of humor, as well as terrific timing. As Will says “let’s face it, everyone wants to f**k my girlfriend,” his words are cross-cut with him filleting a fish. We see a key being forced open from its perspective. Time-lapse cinematography captures Diego and Sage during an unhappy night asleep together. Purple lighting establishes a mood of luxury gone to rot, once nighttime sinks in.
“Bone Lake” is bound to receive more attention than Morgan’s previous film, “Spoonful of Sugar,” which went straight to Shudder. It never found much of an audience; in fact, I might not have watched it if I weren’t reviewing it in these pages. “Spoonful of Sugar” took a subversive tack to the concept of an outsider infiltrating a nuclear family and threatening it with violence. Although “Bone Lake” is a bit more conventional, it pursues some of the same ideas. Once again, the perversity is calling from inside the home.
“Bone Lake” would be tremendous fun if it were merely a well-done genre pastiche. Without calling attention to itself, it avoids the male gaze behind vintage erotic thrillers. (High on MDMA, Cin and Sage seem likely to start making out, but this never actually takes place.) It respects the style without trying to elevate it. However, Joshua Friedlander’s screenplay recognizes that the best erotic thrillers were always about the difficult entanglements of love and sex, even in a rather exaggerated manner. Yet the film really digs in to the difficulties of maintaining a committed relationship.
At a time when so many young progressives are disgusted by sex scenes in film, “Bone Lake” establishes their necessity. It’s not just trying to turn its audience on. It demonstrates how sex can lead to frustration and manipulation, but it also suggests that it’s essential to healthy long-term love. In an ironic note, threatening Diego and Sage’s relationship forces them to acknowledge their own unhappiness and loneliness, making them do better. The film’s celebration of the couple only works because it recognizes the work that goes into any functional one.
“Bone Lake” | Directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan | Bleecker Street | Opens Oct. 3rd at AMC 34th St.
