#Lou llb

[audraswhore]

If you didn’t like love lies bleeding you’re boring

[g0tmilkx3]

Gal Pals

Welcome and thank you for reading in advance. This is a story about two besties!

Authors Note: This story is written in third person with an original female character. No use of Y/N.

WARNINGS: 18+, drinking, gun violence, jealousy, possessiveness, pining, sorta friends to enemies to lovers, lesbians fucking, orgasm denial, toxic relationship, mentions of murder, codependency, lesbians acting like lesbians

Her touch was warm. Brazen in its candor, righteous in its nature. She left a fiery trail to sizzle behind her fingers as she mapped out all of the places she wanted to kiss, to lick, to suck. How she loved to bruise her lover. To leave behind a mark of trust that was begged to be placed there. Her eyes were always bright and present. Beautiful like the light that filtered through the trees and gazed upon the lilies in springtime. She whispered to her lover even when it was just the two. Afraid to lose the gentleness of their union, she didn’t want the divinity to crack. All of the pieces to tumble away, the art to be ruined forever. She'd often sit and let her mind wander. Sometimes she'd reach the darkest depths of her soul. What would happen if they took her lover away? She’d go mad. The thread that kept her together would snap.  She didn’t like thinking about that. But, it was hard not to. And her sweet Honey, her sweet, sweet dollop of heaven had no idea of these affections. She never will. All of these carnal fantasies were all thought up in her dreams. Though, one day she wished they would become reality.

Lou rubbed her eyes as she roused from an unplanned nap. She laid back on the couch cushion, feet kicked up, television on, remote still in hand. On the rare days she had off she spent her time wasting away on her beat up couch. The once vibrant colored fabric was now sun bleached and covered in lint. There was a beer stain that never quite came out and a tear on one of the cushions that revealed the foam hiding inside. She drifted in and out of sleep as reruns of a 70s sitcom droned on in the background. Most people wouldn't consider this entertaining but Lou revered this time of relaxation. Once upon a time her idea of relaxation was firing off a .22.

The doorbell chimed bringing her out of her moment of bliss.

“Honey?” She was shocked to find her coworker and close friend standing outside of her door. Although they'd been friends for a little over a year now she never invited Honey to her place. They opted to spend time at a bar or at Honey's place. She never trusted herself to have her so close to her home let alone inside. Lou knew how obsessive she could become and she didn’t want to subject someone so sweet to her latent wrath. Then she heard her sniffle. At the sound Lou threw all caution to the wind and invited the shivering woman in. “Here sit down I’ll grab some water.”

“Grab wine!” Honey called after her as she walked away. Lou lifted her head and glanced behind her, nervous yet eager to hear just what happened to her friend. Lou wasn't much of a fighter, but she'd fight for the right person.

Once inside the kitchen she searched her fridge for wine but only found brown liquor that she'd sip on those lonely nights. She winced grabbing the nearly empty bottle of whiskey. The thick glass clinked against the rings she never took off.

“All I have is whiskey.” She held the bottle up with a grimace. “I can go out and grab some wine-“

“No,” Honey finally looked at Lou fully, letting the soft light of the lamp illuminate her entire face. “That’s perfect.”

Lou gasped before she could stop herself, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. An ugly deep purple bruise had blossomed over her friends cheek. Even with a bruise on her face she still stole her breath away. But, those feelings of affection had transformed into something, something that made her burn hot. She rushed over, slamming the whiskey on her coffee table as she passed it. 

“What happened?” She gently lifted her hand to examine the wound a little closer. Honey flinched as Lou moved her hair out of the way. Lou tsked with the shake of her head, careful not to brush her wound again. “Who did this to you?”

She felt her heart shatter as a hot tear streamed down her lovers face. Her finger twitched. He thought about the gun she had strapped under the coffee table for emergencies. This felt like an emergency. Much to her dismay, Honey shook her head, pulling back out of her grasp. 

“He apologized for it,” she wiped her tear away “it was just some guy at the gym…" she wiped another tear that threatened to fall. "I'm more shaken up than anything. Nobody has ever hit me before."

Lucky her.

“At the gym?” Lou questioned. “Some rando fuckwad at the gym laid his hands on you?”

“He was on some stimulant and lifting.” She hesitated but decided to continue once she saw Lou’s expression. “I told him we were closed and tapped his shoulder, he swung around thinking I was some man.”

“So the douchebag hit you because you tapped him?” It was decided. She crouched down searching for the hidden weapon. 

“He apologized a lot.” She reassured, curiously watching as Lou searched under the coffee table. “What are you doing?”

Lou didn’t answer, continuing her actions.

“Lou please it’s okay.” She grasped her arm gently pulling, but she didn’t budge. “He offered to pay for my medical bills, he honestly didn’t mean it.”

She finally stopped moving. Honey’s eyes widened as she saw her sit back up on the couch, a pistol in hand.

“Woah, Lou what the hell?” She watched the gun, apprehension in her eyes. Lou glanced at her with a chuckle before looking back down at the gun. She loaded it with bullet after bullet. 

“Relax doll I’m not gonna hurt you.” She closed it with a finite CLICK. “I’m gonna hurt that douche.”

“Lou please.” She rested her hand on her knee. This caught Lou’s attention. She looked down at the manicured hand of her friend then back up at her bruised face. She deflated after a few seconds of heavy eye contact. 

“You know those eyes are dangerous.” She placed her gun on the coffee table before clasping her hands together, letting them dangle between her widespread legs. “They can get me to do just about anything.” The sincerity in her voice made Honey's body heat up. She couldn’t take another second of the swollen silence. 

“I um I…” she broke eye contact and chuckled, she felt her face melting off from the intensity of Lou’s stare. She didn’t falter, not once. She never did. Honey silently wondered if she ever second guessed herself or her actions.

“Here.” Lou used her finger to lift Honey's chin. “Let’s get you a drink then we can see about treating that.”

By the end of the night Honey was tipsy and smiling despite the pain it caused. Lou was happy to be of service. Whenever Honey would get tipsy she’d hang off of Lou, draping her body across her lap like she were a chair. Lou didn’t mind though. Always respectful, she only touched her where she had permission. But whenever she’d lose her place or slip Lou was sure to catch her. Tonight, Lou didn’t know if it was the whiskey or that bruise but she was feeling like a big softie. She couldn’t help but kiss Honey’s forehead. Honey was too drunk to care and Lou was just drunk enough to not feel shame or embarrassment.

“Why did you do that?” The slur of her words only made Lou grin. She kissed the spot again.

“Because you’re so sweet.” She muttered, lips still pressed against Honey’s warmth. “I can’t help myself.”

Honey sat up, Lou missed the weight of her body almost instantly. She fully faced Lou, leaning forward just enough to search her eyes. 

“Why do you say things like that to me?” She hiccuped. "When we’re just friends. What about Daisy?”

The question hit her across the face, sending her mind into a spiral of excuses and explanations. Usually, she’d tell anybody who threatened to invade her private life to fuck off, but instantaneously she wanted to soothe the wound. Get them back to where they were. Not a secret between them, open and honest.

“Daisy and I, we…” she took a deep swig of her whiskey. “It’s easy with Dais.” She decided to leave it at that. Honey settled down on her lap, her head against Lou’s thighs gazing up at her confidant. Lou brushed the hair on Honey’s forehead back. “Maybe, I’m afraid to be with anybody else. To make a connection.”

“You shouldn’t be LouLou.” She replied gently, the affectionate nickname rolling off of her tongue. Butterflies erupted in Lou’s belly. Her affections towards the woman flamed within her, scorching her from the inside out – burning her cheeks.

“I think it’s time for you to get to bed.” She raised her eyebrows, tapping Honey on the shoulder.

“Are you kicking me out?” She pouted, her wet plump lips called to Lou. But she didn’t answer. She knew deep down that if she crossed that line and kissed her she’d be hooked. Like a drug, she knew just one taste would send her down a road chasing a high that was continually out of reach.

“Of course not Honey,” She gently sat her friend up before standing up. “You can sleep in my bed.”

They were close. As close as Lou let them get. She was guarded, naturally inclined to be a loner. But, there was something about Honey. She couldn't put her finger on it. Whenever she was around she felt like she were walking on clouds. Suspended in the air never caring to come down. Frankly, it scared Lou. She hadn't felt this way about a girl since, well since she could remember. Honey was a temple she prayed to day in and day out. She was possessed by a deity that Lou was cursed to worship for all her days.

Lou’s gaze was sweltering, scorching Honey's skin when she arrived at work a few days later. Thankfully her bruise was mostly gone. Faint discoloration took its place. The wind blew as she walked through the door sending fly-away hairs awry, the glow of the setting sun surrounded her head like a crown. Honey always felt Lou's stare when their shifts overlapped. It made her falter in her steps, even after all this time. Lou made her stutter, she made her daydream and drift into a far off land that included the two hand in hand dancing the night away. But, as fate would have it they were destined to be just friends. Much to Honey's disappointment.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" A tall man stepped in front of Honey. One she recognized from a few days earlier.

"Hello!" Incessant snapping broke Lou from her favorite activity. She tore her gaze from Honey engaged in conversation with some man and faced the himbo that'd been trying to get her attention. "I need a protein bar. How much?"

"50 bucks." She glanced back over to find Honey still engaged in conversation with that man. A pretty good looking man who was sculpted to all high heaven. Absently, Lou heard the hunk complain about being robbed blind before he threw a $50 bill down on the counter.

"You still owe me for that bud." She didn't spare him a glance. Her hands moved on their own, grabbing a vile filled with fuel and sliding it across the counter. The man dropped a $10 bill on top of the wrinkled 50, discreetly grabbed the vile, and left.

Honey laughed, her hand connected with her new friends shoulder. Lou could tell by the grin of the meathead that he wanted her Honey. He wanted her bad. Lou knew that look because everyone gave Honey that look. A look saying they wanted to devour her, they they wanted to ruin her. But, Lou wanted to be the first to ruin her. The only one who got the satisfaction.

So, Lou debated. She could stay here and be a normal person who isn't insanely in love with her best friend and forget about Honey’s new friend - actually get some work done. Or she could continue to stare at them hoping the asshole would fuck off and leave Honey alone. She stared at the mop bucket with great disdain. She decided that she’d watch Honey simply to make sure she's safe. But when she looked back, Honey was gone. Her stomach twisted.

She felt sick. Worse than sick. She felt empty, disgusted, envious. She couldn't pin down her ugly feelings with one word. They were too complex. Fleshed out and etched on her face. Honey returned moments later instantaneously noticing her friends sour expression.

"Woah, did pops drop by again?" She teased as she rounded the corner and sat her backpack down at her feet.

"You're late." Lou simply replied refusing to look her in the eye.

"No I'm not..." she replied, unsure of what brought on the coolness of Lou's words. "I was here, just had to help someone with something."

"Right and just what was that?" She busied herself with organizing the papers strewn around the counter. Anything to keep her moving and busy. She could feel this ugly feeling boiling in her body, threatening to spill out. "Because I saw you chopping it up with some guy." She hoped her words came off as nonchalant, but she couldn't bring herself to care how they sounded at this point.

Honey scoffed through a surprised laugh.

"So, you saw me speaking with a customer and still thought I was late?" She crossed her arms and stared Lou down. She dipped her head attempting to catch her eye but Lou was stubborn. Constantly darting them away, constantly finding something else to do. "Dude stop moving around so much." She grabbed her wrist effectively stopping her movements. "If you must know it was the guy that hit me the other day, he brought me some medicine for my bruise." She waited beat before dropping the bomb. “And he asked me on a date.”

Lou hesitated, letting her eyes climb from the counter, to her wrist, to Honey's hand on her wrist. Her gaze trailed up her arm until she found her face. More importantly her eyes. So open and honest, the only eyes she could ever trust. She was different. She wasn't entangled in her family B.S. If Lou had anything to do with it, she never would be. Despite her need to protect Honey, in this very moment Lou wanted nothing more than to eliminate the person who was threatening to take her away. Honey must’ve noticed the darkness clouding Lou’s eyes because she drew her hand back. Lou cursed herself, all of her cards were on the table now. There was nothing she could hide behind anymore.

“It’s fine Lou. Promise.”

Lou didn’t hear her. She went to a place whenever she felt threatened, whenever something or someone threatened her areas of comfort. She'd blacked out going tunnel vision. Retracting to that place her father once forced her to go. She was shifting into autopilot now, she had a mission and she was sure to complete it.

"Hiya!" A third party entered the scene, bursting their bubble. "Either of you ladies know where I can buy a gun?"

Lou raised an eyebrow as Honey grinned instantly turning on her customer service voice. But Lou chose to investigate the stranger. He stood tall, his hair was cut above his ears and buzzed in the back. He was blond. Stoic. She couldn't see his shoes but she was sure they were steel toed. He had a gun hidden in his waistband. A glock.

"...but I'm not sure. What do you say Lou?" Honey turned her attention to Lou, pulling her into the conversation.

"What?" She looked between the two. "I don't know shit about guns, and neither do you." She shared a pointed stare with Honey.

"Well, if you girls have any tips," he handed Honey a card. "Let me know." He was gone in seconds.

Lou grabbed the card from Honey's hand before she could read it.

"Fucking pigs." She muttered.

"Uh, Lou." She tapped her shoulder garnering her attention. "Why did a cop just question me about a gun?”

"Don't worry about it, babe." She easily replied, eyes moving back to the door.

"Babe?" She chuckled feeling her face warm up. "That's a new one."

Lou cursed herself realizing she'd let the one pet name she'd called Honey is secret pass her lips. They were stuck in a silent staring competition. Lou's mind scrambled reaching to the deepest depths to find an excuse or the right words.

"You're uh" she chuckled nervously "I just see you as so innocent that I sometimes call you...baby."

Honey slowly nodded taking in Lou's shoddy explanation. Lou wished the ground would swallow her up but alas she was left in this universe cursed to bask in the uneasiness her unauthorized pet name brought.

It was going to be a long day.

'Hey you've reached my voicemail which means I'm out shopping or I'm out shopping. You know what to do!'

Beep.

Lou sighed hanging her phone up. It'd been days since she last seen or spoken to Honey and it was driving her to the brink of madness. They never went more than a day without speaking with each other. Things felt wrong in the universe. All of Honey’s shifts had been changed to early mornings and she was never home to get the phone these days. Lou tapped her foot, chewed on her bottom lip, and tugged at her hair. She knew letting Honey past the walls she'd put up would bite her in the ass. She shouldn't have let her in her house. She shouldn't have told her how weak she made her. Before she knew it her keys were in the ignition and she was speeding across town.

"Mind telling me what the fuck is going on?" She walked into the house forcing Honey to step back with each angry stride. "You look like you’re home, but you haven't been answering my calls?"

"I don't have to answer every time you call Lou." She shot back, arms crossed. "I'm not a child."

"You had me worried sick, Honey!" She ran a hand through her messy hair. "Terribly. What the fuck is going on with you?"

"Lou I just..."

"Just what?" She questioned invading her personal space. "What?"

"I think we need to spend time a part."

Lou stepped back like she'd been slapped. She was speechless, staring at Honey in disbelief. The words registered after a few moments of silence.

"No, we're not doing that." She heard herself say.

Honey didn't falter, her expression remained stern.

"Where is this coming from, Hon? Are you trying to hurt me? B-because I called you baby? I'm sorry I just-"

"It's not that Lou." She cut her off. Lou panted trying to figure out what brought all this on. “They found a body."

Lou's heart dropped.

"Of the man who hit me. The man who I was going to go on a date with…” She let the words linger, emphasizing how serious this all was.

Lou settled down stepping back, calming her nerves. But she was still on edge. Did Honey know that she lost control? What would Honey think if she knew how far Lou would go to have her to herself?

"Yeah, so?" She balked.

"Lou, they questioned me-"

"You didn't tell them anything did you?" Lou grabbed her by the shoulders.

Honey tried to shrug her hands off of her, but Lou wasn't budging.

"Honey, I know you're stubborn, but I need you to be a good girl and listen to me."

Honey didn't like being told what to do, Lou knew that. But how she loved being called a good girl. She pushed that obstinate feeling down and did as she was told. She'd do anything to be called a good girl again.

"We don't talk to cops. No matter how nice they are. No matter how safe we think they are. Ignore them, they aren't your friend." She let her hands slide down Honey's arms until she grasped her hands. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"That's my girl." She smiled but it quickly fell when Honey's expression morphed into something unreadable.

"I can keep that promise if you tell me the truth." She inhaled and exhaled through her nose before meeting her eyes again. "Just, tell me the truth...did you do it?"

She opened her mouth to speak but the words never came. She tried again but nothing that came to mind made sense.

“Fucking hell Lou what the fuck were you thinking?” Terror was streaked in her eyes, stamped across her face. “Did you kill that man because he hit me?”

No, I killed that man because he hit you AND he asked you on a date after.

“Look Hon, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her eyes darted between Honey’s in silent battle. She loved Honey but in this moment she didn’t trust her. “I think I should leave.” Her father always taught her to expect a wire and unfortunately she could sniff out a set up from a mile away. She left Honey without another word.

'You give motherfuckers an inch they'll take a mile'.

Her fathers words echoed in the back of her head all the way home.

Once she made it back she couldn't stop replaying the moment she left Honey. That look on her face was seared in her mind. It was a look of confusion, hurt, betrayal. She stared at the phone debating with herself. There was no way that was a setup. She didn't plan her visit and Honey would never do that to her. Without thinking she dialed Honey's number and held her breath as the dialing bell tolled.

'Hey you've reached my voicemail-'

She feared that the damage was done.

They avoided each other for days. Until their days turned into weeks and weeks into months. 2 months later they still hadn’t spoken. Barely looked at each other. Lou felt like a knife was forever protruding from her back nestled there by Honey.

“Hey Honey I need you to drop this at Lou’s.” Their manger informed her as he sat a stack of files in front of her.

“Can’t she just pick this up tomorrow?”

“No, she’s off for the next couple days and these need to be organized before the audit on Friday.”

“Why don’t I just do it?” She grappled.

“You don’t know the system.” He shot back, not even sparing a glance in her direction.

“I can learn!”

“Look Honey," he sighed as he massaged the bridge of his nose. "I just need this one thing. Please.”

Nobody argued with the boss.

Honey rushed to Lou’s house after work not bothering to call before heading over. There was a huge storm headed there way and she wanted to get this done and over with so she could get home.

Lou answered the door, her sweats hung low on her hips, a black sports bra stood out against her skin leaving her abdomen out for Honey to stare at.

Honey ignored how Lou made her feel and thrust the stack of folders toward her.

She curiously eyed the files with a raised eyebrow as she took a sip of beer. She flicked her eyes back up to Honey and licked the drop of liquid that landed on her bottom lip.

Honey ignored how Lou made her feel and cleared her throat.

“Boss wants you to organize these before Friday…”

Lou nodded sitting her beer on something near the door. She took a step forward letting the folders press against her stomach. Her hands came up covering Honey's underneath the stack. Honey slowly pulled her hands away, unable to look away from Lou's intense stare.

Lou breathed in deeply, her heart racing, her valley pulsated. She instantly regretted it. Once she smelled Honey all of those ugly feelings of resentment melted away and her heart ached. She missed her friend. But Lou wasn’t going to let her know that. She backed away and slammed the door in her face.

Honey ignored how Lou made her feel.

She blinked a few times willing her tears away. She felt stuck, frozen, left to stare at the dirty wood of Lou’s door.

Lou, inside, remained. Eyes stuck on the door wishing she were braver.

Thunder broke Honey from her daze. The peach sky was quickly being taken over by raging dark clouds moving over where she stood. She took one more look at her old friend’s door and left. Her mind was in a far off place when she cranked her car up and began her drive back home. The rain began before she could make it out the parking lot. By the time she reached the corner she couldn’t see a thing.

“Fuck.” She pulled over and placed her car in park. Ahead of her was nothing but a static curtain of rain, drenching her windshield with water and debris. Another loud rumble of thunder made her jump from her seat. “Fuck fuck fuck.” She couldn’t see much out of her rear view either. “No.” She muttered to herself. “I’m not going back and asking her for help.” Another particularly close strike of lightening shook her car. “Okay, fine.” She moved to put her car in drive but all she could hear was gurgling. She tried again but her engine refused to turn over.

That was how she found herself soaking wet on Lou’s porch again.

Lou was still in another place, fighting with herself. Should she try calling again? No. That’d be pathetic. Thunder broke her out of her stupor. She rubbed her eyes, realizing she hadn’t blinked since Honey left. Nothing was going to change. She felt stupid standing here still holding these stupid folders and staring at her stupid door. She plopped them on her coffee table and moved to go to bed when a knock at the door pulled her back into reality.

“Honey?” She took in her appearance, noting briefly the translucency of her thin top. She picked a great day not to wear a bra. She snapped her eyes up when she realized Honey had been speaking this entire time.

“…my engine is flooded and I can’t see shit. Could I just wait the storm out here?”

Lou glanced behind her then back at Honey before she stepped aside and let her come in.

“I’ll throw your clothes in the dryer.” She muttered as she walked to her room. She lent Honey something to change into after her shower before changing the sheets. She sung in the shower accompanying Lou in her chores. It all felt too domestic but she was used to this. Lou was used to friends staying over and singing in the shower. Honey felt different though. She imagined how she'd soak her sheets with her scent. How she'd leave behind her essence in the bathroom. It made her throb with want. Honey's singing morphed into humming. Lou's stomach twisted. It was as if Honey knew her effect on her. But Lou didn’t believe her to be so cruel.

Lou was smoothing out her comforter when Honey appeared towel-clad in the doorway. She watched as droplets of water slid down her neck and over her collarbone, down her chest before disappearing underneath the towel. She absentmindedly licked her lips wanting to follow the water with her tongue.

"I left my change of clothes in here..." she shifted uncomfortable under Lou’s gaze. Not having felt it in so long she’d forgotten how intense it could be. She maintained her stare as she sauntered closer and closer. Honey didn’t falter this time. Soon they were face to face, exchanging breath. Lou’s chest pressed against Honey’s shoulder, she could feel her heart beating at a dizzying rhythm.

Lou breathed in deeply, closing her eyes on the exhale. “You’re getting water on my floor.” She snapped her eyes back open and left.

Later...

Lou left her bathroom after getting ready for bed and clicked the light off in her room as she passed it.

“Uh thanks?” She heard Honey call behind her.

“Shit.” She turned around and made her way back to her room. “Sorry force of habit.” She clicked the light back on.

“Gotcha…” Honey cleared her throat as she moved under the comforter. “You can uh, turn it off now.” Lou clicked the light off as Honey settled back into her bed. Seconds later a strike of lightening briefly lit the space illuminating Honey’s frightened expression. Thunder quickly followed. Lou had forgotten about Honey’s childish fear of lightening and thunder. It was endearing and she wished she could stay to ward away those bad thoughts but Lou was beginning to feel like a creep.

“Well, uh, goodnight Hon.” She turned around dragging the door with her.

“Wait, Lou.” She called. Lou stopped in her tracks, back still facing her. “Could you…stay?”

Lou thought she heard wrong. Her request pierced her ears, Honey’s words created a symphony of want to rush through her body. Lou hesitated though. As much as she yearned for Honey, things were still too hot. The police were still following her. She wanted to keep Honey away from this world she lived in, this life.

“You want me to?” She questioned despite herself.

“Please.” Her mousy voice replied. “I don’t know if you remember but I’m not a big fan of lightening.”

Lou didn’t remember getting in the bed but she wasn’t one second and the next she was sinking next to the pinnacle of her desire.

She smelled divine this close. Her hair was tied up but a fruity aroma emanated from her, filling the space. She was careful not to touch her, out of fear she'd feel the softness of her skin.

“Hey LouLou.”

“Yeah?” Her voice cracked as relief flooded her. Hearing the nickname Honey bestowed upon her calmed her nerves.

“I want to apologize.” Her voice grew quieter by the second. She was afraid to speak. Lou set out to make her feel safe.

“What are you apologizing for?”

“I shouldn't have accused you of killing that guy.” She turned to her side so she could face Lou. A steep confession that left Lou dizzy. But, she kept her composure. She wish she didn’t feel so enraged though. She was furious at herself. The anger she'd directed towards her father all these years felt in vain. She was shaping up to be just like him. Here she was subjecting a loved one to this unrighteous turmoil drudged up by her nonsensical feelings. She didn’t speak. She couldn’t speak. She just ground her teeth, waiting for more words to spill out of her mouth.

“I didn't speak to the police. They tried to get me to wear a wire.“

“A wire?” Lou couldn’t hold her tongue.

"Yeah, they backed me into a corner one morning when I opened. I was alone." Her bottom lip trembled. "I was afraid."

Lou could handle police but she knew Honey had no experience with them. She was used to being roughed up, being questioned, she just never thought she'd have to shield Honey from that. For her lover to have been touched by grimy hands it shifted something in her. It lit a raging fire in her. An ugly dark feeling entered her stomach and the feeling of bile climb her throat but she swallowed it down. She had to keep herself in check. She could do that.

“I'm so sorry.“ Her words choked her. "I'm sorry I got you into this, Hon."

Honey's soft hand cupped her cheek, wiping the tear away.

'When did I start crying?'

Lou humorlessly chuckled at herself. Weakness was in her tears, she couldn't even lift her eyes to see Honey's reaction. She couldn't bare to see the reflection of her ailing emotion on Honey's face.

"Hey, stop that Lou." She pouted wiping more tears away. "I'm okay, I'd do it again."

That made Lou look up, lashes wet and clumped together. "Really?"

"I'd do anything to protect you."

Those words hit her like lightening. Protected. She wasn't familiar with feeling that way. She was usually the one protecting, cleaning up the mess. But she trusted Honey in this moment. She trusted her with her life.

Honey stole a kiss and Lou's breath right along with it. She remained close, sharing her breath with Lou. Their noses brushed. Lou stared at Honey’s closed lids. Her heart was pounding, blood sloshed in her ears. They laid there, unmoving for so long that she’d began to think she imagined the kiss.

“Was that okay?” Honey sliced through the tension causing an unexpected laugh to bubble up Lou’s throat.

“Shut up.” She pushed a stray curl behind Honey’s ear before leaning forward and hungrily kissed her back. With that the universe ceased to exist. They were suspended in time, the sounds of thunder and rain absconded leaving behind space for their sounds of pleasure. Lou could feel her pupils dilate underneath her eyelids. Her blood reached a boiling point. Her body moved on its own accord. She pushed Honey on her back, swinging her leg over her body to hover above. She pulled away briefly to catch her breath. She loved the sweet sounds of the woman beneath her trying to catch her breath. She dived back in without warning. She nipped at Honey’s bottom lip, enjoying the quiet whimpers that left her. Her tongue invaded her lover’s mouth. She slotted her knee between her legs, moaning at the warmth of her clothed pussy against her. She gripped her waist and pulled her closer. She could feel her beneath her squirming, trying to make sense of what she was feeling. She wanted to take her time with her, to tease her, make her beg for it. Lou knew that after this she’d be addicted to this feeling. Even still, she couldn’t see herself regretting this. She pulled away to kiss Honey’s neck, to nip at her ear.

“You like it when I touch you here?” She whispered hotly against the shell of her ear. Her hand played with the waistband of her shorts.

“Yes.” She replied breathlessly. It sounded as sweet as sin. What would come of their friendship if they crossed the line and went all the way? Lou was ready to taste her, to bring her to the brink of completion just to back away and do it all over again. Anything it took to hear her sweet voice cry and beg. To feel her writhe and pulsate against her tongue. She captured her mouth again swallowing the moan released Honey let out. She hungrily begged for more and that she did receive. Lou pressed herself against Honey’s thigh, rutting against her pulled vibrating moans out of her. She tried her hardest not to sound like a little bitch but she could hear her whiny whimpers slipping out right along with Honey’s. She found her ear again, leaving her hips to keep the string of pleasure going.

“You have no idea,” another bitchy whimper left her. Lou couldn’t believe the sounds she was making. She never made these sounds before. Honey was dangerous. “You have no fucking idea how long I’ve wanted this.”

“Show me how bad you want me.” She tangled her hand in Lou’s hair, tugging at the roots. Lou’s eyes rolled as she increased her pace grinding faster and harder, chasing release.

“I’ll show you.” Lou promised, already backing up and pulling Honey’s shorts off. She smelled her nectar once she was bare. Lou undressed herself. “Wanna feel me?” Honey thrust her head back and moaned as Lou kissed from her foot up to her knee. “Wanna feel how bad I want you?” She slotted her hips between her lovers, shuttering as their most intimate parts connected. She slid over her, catching a rhythm that felt nice for the both of them. Over and over, her pussy kissed Honey’s. “Fuck, do you hear us?” She cursed under her breath, listening to their sopping cores create a filthy array of sounds. Rotating her hips she found an angle that made Honey’s eyes roll back. She puffed air out of her mouth, her moan growing higher and higher until she began vibrating in ecstasy. Lou didn’t stop her movements wanting hear how she sounded when she was about to cum. Once she saw Honey’s mouth fall open, releasing a silent sound, she stopped moving and backed her hips away.

“Please.” She breathed hips thrusting up searching for Lou’s.

“Please what?” She teased moving further away. Her lover only moaned, weakly moving forward, trying to feel her again. “Uh, uh, uh. use your words. Tell me how bad you want it.” She chuckled, teasing her lover.

“Feel so good.” She slurred, frustration overcoming the pleasure she was feeling . “Please just-“ she mewled weakly pulling on Lou’s arms.

“Please just what, Honey?” She glided her fingertips across her stomach inching closer and closer to her nipples with each caress. She watched in reverence as Honey squirmed beneath her. Her face moved in and out of the light giving full glimpses of frustration to Lou.

“Please, I wanna feel you.” She gritted out through clenched teeth “I need you.”

Lou’s mind blanked when she heard those last few words. Honey needed her.

“Since you asked so nicely.” She mused slotting them together again. With each brush, an electric wave rushed up and down their body's. Traveling down Honey’s and up Lou’s. Every inch of Honey’s skin was on high alert, too sensitive to touch. Lou watched her searching for what made her writhe, what made her moan, she found that rhythm again. The one that pulled the filthiest sounds out of her mouth.

"Close." Honey warned rocking along with Lou. "So close." Lou, mesmerized, slid her hand up Honey's body and pinched her pert nipple.

Honey's mouth fell open in a silent moan as she fell over the edge. Between them, a stream of pleasure squirted from Honey covering them both. Lou felt it pool beneath them, but she couldn’t bring herself to give a fuck about her sheets. She groaned speeding up, feeling her orgasm starting at the tips of her toes. Climbing and climbing until it catapulted her into the sun. Lou followed Honey as currents of pleasure washed over her over and over again. She pressed herself against Honey wanting to feel the rhythm of their pulsating pussy’s against each other. Honey kept her eyes closed as they both came down. Lou couldn’t help but stare down at her as she rode it out. Lou smiled, feeling her cheeks warm. How pretty did her girl look lying there. Blissed out without a care. Lou liked her better when she was moaning though.

She wanted to taste her sweet angel. She need to understand what she held between her legs more intimately. She slowed her movements before slinking down her body kissing a hot trial on her way down. She kissed her thighs softly before biting them just hard enough to draw gasps from Honey. Honey jolted when Lou’s lips latched onto her clit sucking her in until her sense dulled. She threw her head back clutching for purchase on anything. Her finger slipped as the blankets slipped from her fingers. With each suction she was drawn nearer and nearer to nirvana. Just when she saw the light begin to descend from heaven, Lou pulled back. Honey sat up on her elbows wondering why the sensation stopped. Lou mischievously stared up at her from between her legs.

“You think I’m gonna give you another orgasm after you’ve been so mean to me?” She walked her fingers across Honey’s belly before lifting a finger and moving it side to side. "Not so fast, doll."

“I’m sorry.” She begged thighs trembling. "I'll do anything." She nodded "I'll be a good girl."

Lou bit her lip at the admission. "

“Just for me?" She wanted to hear it. She needed to hear Honey say it.

Honey hastily nodded bucking her hips forward. “Yes, yes just for you. Only you.” Lou's iron grip on her hips kept her from making any significant movement, but that didn't mean she stopped trying. She maintained eye contact as she slipped two fingers inside of Honey. They went in easily leaving a wet sound to fly into the air.

"You really wanna be my good girl?"

Lou bit her bottom lip watching her ringed fingers disappear into the velvet cove she coveted. Honeys sounds of pleasure were disorienting. With each breathy moan she cast a spell specifically for Lou.

“How about, you don’t cum unless I say so."

Honey nodded hastily, still up on her elbows.

“Yes, yes, yes.” She moved her hips along with Lou's fingers. "Promise."

Lou wasn’t sure if Honey took the order seriously, but that didn’t stop her from hooking her fingers and hitting the spot that made her lovers brain go offline. Her fingers were soon soaked with Honey's sweetness that she was sure tasted even better.

“Lou- ah- ooo” she gasped “I’m gonna cum. Don’t stop don’t stop dontstopdontstopdontstop “

“Did I say you could cum baby?” She didn’t stop her movement feeling Honey's walls closing in. She couldn’t stop if she wanted to, pulling another orgasm out of Honey so quickly made her ache so deliciously.

“Pleasepleasepleaseplease”

Lou watched in astonishment as honey cracked and crumbled, orgasm pulling sounds out of her that were to be etched on Lou’s brain forever. Lou grinned sneaking back down between her legs, fingers still working. She took Honeys clit into her mouth sucking the cream off of it.

Honey lazily pushed her away. But Lou didn’t move. In fact she increased her intensity. She rapped against the spot inside honey faster than before. She alternated between powerful sucks and long sloppy licks from her hole over her hard clit and back again. With each movement Honey shuttered and groaned her sounds bordering on pained.

“Ah Lou” she writhed “please just- s-st” she bit her lip. She didn’t want her to stop. Nothing has ever hurt so good. “Lou I can’t, I can’t baby.”

Lou pulled back long enough to laugh. Honey didn’t find anything funny.

“I c-can’t again.” She trembled as Lou began slurping her like a melting Popsicle again.

She pulled back much to Honeys relief but only for a moment. Her fingers still drumming inside of her.

“You can and you will.” She went back to her previous actions.

“I-I can’t it’s t-too much!” She groaned squeezing her legs against Lou’s head in an attempt to push her away. Lou effortlessly pushed them back apart. She slipped her fingers back inside her, instantly finding her button.

"I thought you said you wanted to be my good girl?"

"I-" another filthy moan. "I d-do."

"Then be a good girl and cum." She kissed Honey's shining clit before continuing to lick and suck, alternating between pressures and speeds. Honey felt hot all over. A prickling sensation developed within her forcing sounds of pained pleasure to rip through her. She wanted this to go on forever while simultaneously wanting it to stop. She’d never felt so overwhelmed with need before. Seconds later Honey’s back arched off the bed as an unexpected orgasm lifted her soul out of her body.

Honey watched herself thrusting against Lou’s face riding out her earth shattering orgasm. Lou stared up at her, smug satisfaction evident as she swallowed everything Honey offered. She returned back to her body when the feelings subsided. Even still her body vibrated. Ebbing and flowing with each breath.

Lou was on her back with the blink of an eye. The bed dipped as Honey got up and left the room. She was far to dazed to care. She was on cloud nine and ready to go again if she was up for it. But, she had a feeling she wasn’t. Upon Honey’s reentry she held a damp towel.

“Hey, I’m supposed to be the one taking care of you.” Lou teased as she took the towel to wipe herself.

“Yeah right, you can barely take care of yourself.”

Lou grinned watching as Honey moved around her room. She looked like she belonged there. She grinned as Honey helped her stand up so she could change the sheets. She snuck a kiss once she was on her feet. She grinned when Honey left the room and came back with a glass of water for her. She grinned as she got back in bed and tugged Lou along with her.

Through the night Lou held Honey close, now that she had her she was never going to let her go.

[s0ftpining]

❤️‍🔥

[goobobbers]

i’m ur transformer call me marlene call me gino 😛😛

[tumblethroughthekaleidoscope]

Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

[t4tozier]

Now you got me thinking about butch Porter 🤧 She’d be such a gym rat and bring her gf Jace to the gym to tell her how hot and buff she is- honestly it could be a Love lies bleeding au with Jace being KStew’s character Lou who’s obsessed with Porter who’s Katy O’Brien’s character Jackie.

Fun lil things they can do:

Jace feeding Porter to help her bulk 💖

Porter flexing and showing off for Jace

Perhaps murder 🤭

Jace giving Porter her steroid shots and and both of them getting horny about it

Porter willing to beat the shit out of anyone for her girl in a fit of rage

Jace drooling over this and immediately fucking the shit out of Porter in her truck

Scrawny lil dyke Jace driving a truck with the messiest lil mullet blowing in the wind (Porter loves running her fingers through it, it gets messier every day)

Maybe more murder for fun and profit

Jace trying and failing to quit cigarettes and only being semi successful when with Porter but gods does Jace look hot smoking her cigarettes leaning against the hood of her truck

Porter with ass and tits that won’t quit that Jace can’t keep her hands off of 🥰

I need this to be them so bad 🤧🤧🤧

YESSS oh my god love lies bleeding adjacent au,,,

murder girlfriends <33 i do love in LLB that porter would technically be the femme but that’s why this is adjacent. we’re kind of pulling from everywhere heee

porter with her ass in the air as jace does her shots for her, sealing it with a kiss and a smack

jace learning how to cook so she can make sure her butch is well fed, cooing over every pound she gains and making sure porter knows how gorgeous and sexy jace thinks she is with both her words and the way she gropes porter at every opportunity

jace starting a bar fight because someone looked at porter for too long. they end up having to hide a body <3 jace with blood all over her face as she lights up a cigarette and porter’s like babe you have never been hotter

i do tend to lean towards femme jace when thinking about lesbians so i’m picturing porter at the gym and jace is stretching in booty shorts and a crop top and clapping for her girlfriend every time she does another bicep curl until one of them gets so horny they have to go fuck in porter’s truck. jace buries her face in porter’s tits and licks the sweat from between them <3

gentleman butch porter in a suit,,,opens every door for her femme, pulls out her chair and orders for her so jace just has to sit there and look pretty <3 gets all flustered whenever jace compliments her but she loves it she’s such a softie. however the waiter who “accidentally” brushed his hand up against jace’s tits when pouring her wine Will end up in the ravine on the state border by the end of the night.

[problematicraccoon]

lou and jackie from llb have me absolutely feral i feel insane

[disappointingyet]

The big 2024 round-up: Arthouse and documentary

This is one of three parts of my look back at this year in movies, alongside The big 2024 round-up: More or less mainstream and my Films of the year.

The Zone Of Interest

As a rule, I like to know as little as reasonably possible about a film before I see it. But in order to consider seeing The Zone Of Interest, I needed to know at least something about it – I’m not enamoured of the depths of human suffering as a source of entertainment and I don’t go to the movies for lessons, mostly. But the drawback of seeing Jonathan Glazer’s the-family-life-of-a-concentration-camp-commandant film after hearing a lot about it was that rather being surprised by how radical it was in terms of not doing what cinematic accounts of the Holocaust normally do, I found it fairly conventional compared with what I had built up in my imagination. It’s smart, it’s startling at moments, it’s an interesting take on the subject… and it’s still not the kind of thing that I want to go to the cinema for. I was impressed but not moved.

Perfect Days

Confession: there’s a fair chance if Perfect Days was exactly the same film but had been made by a Japanese director, it would be one of my favourite films of the year. But it was made by Wim Wenders and Wenders is a notorious cultural tourist and so I’m just that bit distrustful about what he’s saying here about Japan.

Probably unfairly – this is a lovely film. It’s about Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), who takes immense pride in his job of cleaning public toilets. Not grim municipal conveniences like you’d find in London – these are a range of outstanding bits of architecture and technology (although you’d never get me to use the glass-cube ones that switch to obscured windows when you step inside). 

Hirayama reads, listens to Lou Reed and Patti Smith on original cassettes in his little van, takes photos on film, looks after his many plants. He’s all routine but it doesn’t seem boring. He’s just the coolest and the film is begging the ignorant Western critic to misuse the word ‘Zen’. So, so much better than I would ever have expected a Wenders film to be at this point in history. 

(MUBI)

Love Lies Bleeding 

The first half of 2024 seemed to offer a clear choice for anyone interested in a sapphic crime movie that wasn’t shy about sex: if you wanted goofy, you could go for Drive-Away Dolls. And if you wanted gritty, there was Love Lies Bleeding. Only, well, LLB turns out to be surprisingly goofy, too, although (as the title promises) bloody. 

It’s 1989 and Lou (Kristen Stewart) is stuck in a dusty small town working in a gym when the strapping Jackie (Katy O’Brian) pops in to lift some weights. Very, very quickly Lou is cooking Jackie breakfast and agreeing to let this drifter who is en route to (of course) Vegas stay.

There’s a strong 1990s neo-noir vibe here – the lesbian thing has had people mentioning Bound but it's much closer to John Dahl, particularly Red Rock West. 

But (and this was the surprise), it gets very heightened, so yes David Lynch but also Sin City and (it turns out this was one of director Rose Glass’ main reference points) Showgirls. And that leaves Stewart feeling a bit out of sync with her castmates through no fault of hers because her character is fairly grounded and everyone else’s (O’Brian, Ed Harris, Dave Franco etc) are not.

And in the end, it’s a little unclear about how much we’re meant to be laughing and that left me not fully sold on the movie.

La Chimera

When you think of Italy, is it grubby and cold? Chances are, probably not, although it can certainly be both. La Chimera leans heavily into showing us uncomfortable, crumbling  places. The film is about a bunch of youngish folk who scratch a living through illegal archaeology – they are tomb raiders without the adventure that might imply. Their erstwhile leader, fresh back from prison, is a lanky Englishman played by the currently modish Josh O’Connor. The film is light on plot, focusing more on the dysfunctional little gang. I wasn’t annoyed that I saw La Chimera but not sure I actively enjoyed it.

Kinds Of Kindness

The year’s second Yorgos Lanthimos film is an anthology movie – a form that seems more popular with directors than audiences. The achingly ironically named Kinds Of Kindness is a three-parter with the same cast playing different characters each time. We’re talking dark modern fables – I was going to say ‘dark little…’ but as the whole thing comes in at a podgy 2hrs 44mins, each episode is long enough. It’s proudly nasty and aggressively pervy. I can’t fault the cast – Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau and Margaret Qualley – but it felt a bit smug, gratuitous and a bit trite to me (not to mention mad long.)

Janet Planet 

Quiet, low-key US indie about Lacy (Zoe Ziegler), a kid who says she has no friends and her chronically unlucky-in-love single mom Janet (Julianne Nicholson). They live in a beautiful (so beautiful) house in the woods (this seems to be the early ’90s, so property is more affordable – but also, it seems, Janet comes from means). It looks great, there are some excellent sequences, Nicholson is reliably good but it didn’t fully hit with me – usually (though not always) I need this stuff to be funnier. (Director Annie Baker, by the way, is married to Nico Baumbach and by extension part of the Baumbach-Gerwig power axis.)

La Cocina

Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play The Kitchen updated and relocated to a Times Square tourist trap. Lots to admire technically: lush black & white, great choreography of swarms of staff moving in and out of the kitchen, overlapping dialogue in a half dozen languages… But it’s all heavy-handed and wearying – everything stopping so characters can give speeches about their dreams plus a lot of obvious stuff about how much it sucks to be an undocumented worker in a frantic restaurant.

Full review here

Priscilla 

Sofia Coppola tells the unsettling story of Elvis’ child bride. Plus points: Cailee Spaeny in the lead role, even if it’s somewhat disturbing how plausible she is when she’s playing a teen (Spaeny is 25.) A phenomenal soundtrack makes light of not having the rights to the King’s music and instead goes from The Ramones to Dolly Parton. Minus points: Aussie Jacob Elordi seems to have put in so much effort getting Elvis’ voice right that he’s too exhausted to do anything else. And about three-quarters of the way in, it slides into conventional biopic territory. Could have done with a 15-minute trim. It’s good, but my expectations were a bit too high.

(MUBI)

Full review here

Problemista

Not the only new film I saw this year that reminded me of the work of Michel Gondry, this is a charming comedy written & directed by/starring Julio Torres as a wannabe toy designer who needs a job, any job, to keep him in the US. He ends up working for the eccentric Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton in a long, curly red wig), whose artist husband (Rza) has been cryogenically frozen. I can imagine that Torres’ manboy shtick and the lot-of-stuff-made-of-cardboard look of the film will put some people off, but I found lots to enjoy here.

All Of Us Strangers

Critics loved this, various people I know found it fully tear-inducing. As with Aftersun last year, I ended up feeling a bit heartless.

This is a ghost story that’s about emotions not scares. Andrew Scott plays a screenwriter living in a near-empty new luxury high-rise in London. Two things start happening: he’s hooking up with his warm-but-damaged neighbour (Paul Mescal) and he’s taking the train down to Surrey to visit his long-dead parents (Claire Foy and Jaime Bell), Spending time with his folks (no explanation is given for how, a good decision), he gets to understand a bit more about his childhood and process being a gay kid in the 1980s, when on the one hand there was no shortage of representation in the pop charts – Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Power Of Love is central to this film – but the suburban world was extremely hostile and harmful. 

The performances are all terrific – and previously I had been somewhat sceptical about both Foy and Mescal. The scenes with the parents are all pretty excellent. The vibe in the Scott-Mescal scenes is also good. My problem – which predates this film – is with director Andrew Haigh’s writing: I find a lot of his dialogue so plodding it takes me out of the situation entirely. And that’s why I was left feeling this is a film of great moments rather than one that fully worked for me, but I'm in the minority.

Evil Does Not Exist 

This is the newest film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who made the 2022 critics’ fave Drive My Car. This one is set in a village up in wooded hills, where everyone is obsessed with things like the taste of noodles cooked in pure mountain stream water. (If you are fully spoiler adverse, stop reading now.)

The plot – such that there is – is nudged into motion when a Tokyo talent agency decides to grab a post-Covid subsidy by reinventing itself as a glamping operation. A big chunk of the film is taken up with the fractious public consultation the company has to hold. 

The vibe is something like a Japanese version of a Kelly Reichardt film. Until the final 10 minutes or so, that is, when, in its own quiet way, it goes absolutely batshit. And lost me completely. 

(BFIplayer)

Monster

The great Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda is back on home soil after French and Korean excursions with a film about a troubled schoolkid. Someone is being bullied but whether Minato (Soya Kurokawa) is perpetrator, victim or something else is the question. This is one of those films in which we see the same stretch of time from three different perspectives in turn. Unfortunately for how I felt at the end of watching it, the segment I thought was truly outstanding was the first one, about a feisty single mother (Sakura Andô) taking on school officials who behave in a way that if a non-Japanese director had made this, they might be accused of overdoing the stereotypes of groupthink and oppressive politeness.

The rest of the film is thoughtful and well filmed and objectively good but I just felt the energy dip and my interest fade, to the point where I was thinking fondly of other Koreeda movies. Mind you, one of those was last year’s Broker, which I now don’t understand why I left off my favourites of 2023 list, so ask me in 12 months and I might be raving about Monster.

(BFIplayer)

His Three Daughters 

This is one of those films you’d swear blind was adapted from a play but weirdly seems to have been written for the screen. I mean, there’s a core cast of three with maybe five other speaking parts. It takes place almost entirely within a New York apartment with a few scenes on a bench in the building’s grounds, and precisely one trip out to a cannabis dispensary. And it has the rhythm of theatre. But it’s a movie, shot on film even.

Vincent is dying. His daughter Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) shares the apartment with him. Her sister Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) has flown in across country. Katie (Carrie Coon) only lives in Brooklyn but apparently the end is so near that she’s also sleeping there. There’s an annoying guy from the local hospice who drops in with advice, and a nurse. 

The film broadly matches my experience of this kind of situation, which is you know you should be on your best behaviour and supportive of everyone else because they are also in pain but you’re exhausted and overwhelmed and just so unbearably angry. 

So rather than being there for each other, Katie – who thinks of herself as the grown-up one – snipes at weed-smoking self-proclaimed professional gambler Rachel, who she clearly thinks of as a fuck-up. Meanwhile, neither of them are paying much attention to Christina, whose assigned family role is the happy one. 

This is very much an acting showcase, although one that leans into known strengths. In other words, it’s Natasha Lyonne playing the streetwise one and Carrie Coon the seemingly together one – none of them are out of their comfort zones. 

Obviously, the subject matter is grim, but I found it grim-relatable rather than grim-as-spectacle. Pretty good.  (Netflix)

I Saw The TV Glow

Great title, great look, great vibe… There’s much to like about the first half or so of this hard-to-pigeonhole movie, one that sits somewhere between, I don’t know, David Lynch and Michel Gondry, plus a little bit It Follows and I was also reminded of Boots Riley’s TV show I’m A Virgo. Maybe it would simpler to say that Jane Schoenbrun has created something all of its own here.  What it isn’t in any normal sense of the term is a horror movie – there are quite a few disgruntled viewers who thought they were going to get scares and maybe gore and got neither.

It’s about a pair of marginalised teens in the 1990s who are obsessed by a cult TV show that’s part Buffy and part one of those low-budget 1980s kid’s fantasy shows with rudimentary special effects. 

The cinematography, production design, lighting are as good as anything I’ve seen this year. But in the second half, the storytelling feels a bit clunky to me, and the conclusion a bit forced. I had huge expectations for I Saw The TV Glow, and it fell a little short. But it's one of the most distinctive and memorable things I saw this year.

Documentaries

Brats

Has Andrew McCarthy got over the sense that he and his co-stars from the John Hughes movies plus St Elmo’s Fire were considered spoilt party kids? According to this documentary he directed, the answer is no. The shtick is that he rings up Emilio, Demi, Rob, Molly, Judd and Ally* and asks them to talk it through almost 40 years later – but which of them will say yes? Fortunately, he also talks to journalists and behind-the-scenes people and gets a bit more perspective. Not flattering to its maker but I was hooked.

*If you can’t automatically add the surnames, this isn’t for you.

(Disney+)

Full review here

Catching Fire: The Anita Pallenberg Story

There’s maybe a bit of a Trojan horse effect going on with this documentary: draw folks in with gossip from the set of Performance and hope they stay for the deeply sobering stuff about how wholly unfit to be parents Keef Richards & chums were. The moral of story: keep clear of rock stars.

Full review here

Getting It All Back: The Story of Cymande

Full disclosure – the director of photography on this film is a friend of mine (hi, David!). This is a documentary about Cymande, a classic obscure-at-the-time, later massively influential band. There weren’t a lot of successful black bands of any kind in London in the 1970s, let alone funk groups that drew from Rastafarian drumming and chanting as well as jazz and soul.

The documentary tells the story of both Cymande’s original career – no love here, some in the States – and then the repeated way that subsequent generations continuously ‘rediscover’ and sometimes sample them. We get Mark Ronson and Jazzie B and Maseo from De La Soul and Norman Jay and the bloke from beardy American rockers My Morning Jacket…

It’s a good story and Cymande are an interesting lot, although there’s a always an implication in these kind of docs that with just a little luck, the subjects would have been huge and I’m not sure here that’s necessarily the case. (Or maybe I think that, because, whisper it, Cymande aren’t really my bag – like a lot of ‘70s bands, I like the samples grabbed from their records but not the records themselves.)

Scala!!! or, The Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World's Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits

I mean, that subtitle does a lot of the work there. The Scala was a cinema club, first in Fitzrovia and then in an amazing building in King’s Cross, that existed from the late 1970s until the early 1990s. The KX building, now a club/gig venue, is still called The Scala and it’s where the interviews for this documentary were shot. 

Because The Scala was notionally a private members’ club and not a general admission cinema, they got away with showing all sorts extreme horror and beyond X-rated films you couldn’t possibly see elsewhere, plus just lots of assorted culty stuff. They ran all-nighters, hosted assorted obsessive fan groups etc. It was, by all accounts, quite something. (I think I only went once, and just to see a film that was on current release, so didn’t get the full experience.) 

This documentary tells all that story well enough, but I got tired of lots of people telling us how cool it was and therefore how cool they were for hanging out there. And how it was somehow politically important (I don’t think so). When they are going, ‘It was so daring, people were having sex in the loos,’ I’m afraid I’m just thinking, ‘Christ, you’re at an all-night quadruple bill and you’re busting for a piss and two selfish bastards are going at… Nightmare.’ (BFIplayer)

Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger

In which cinema’s no1 superfan Martin Scorsese talks us through the work of arguably the greatest British-based filmmakers, interwoven with his memories of seeing these movies, how they influenced key sequences from his movies and the story of how Marty and chums rescued Michael Powell from chilly obscurity in the English countryside and whisked him off to be their guru (culminating in Scorsese’s editor Thelma Schoonmaker marrying him). Scorsese is the only 2024 voice we here, everything else is archive footage and generous clips from the films – this is a luxury version of the kind of video essay you get on YouTube, but then Scorsese did help invent the idea in the first place. If you haven’t seen all of Powell and Pressburger’s masterpieces (A Matter Of Life And Death, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus), I’d skip this for now because there are massive spoilers.

*Emeric Pressburger came from Hungary + Hitchcock did the bulk of his best work in Hollywood

(BBC iPlayer)

Piece By Piece

Essentially all you need to know is this: Piece By Piece is an otherwise standard documentary about the life and career of Pharrell Williams except in Lego computer animation. So if you are tickled by the idea of, say, the video for Snoop Dogg’s Drop It Like It’s Hot rendered in (CG) Lego, you might want to see this. If not, walk on by.

Full review here

[noratilney]

Canon Era OC Masterlist (wip)

Sylvie Beauregard

Full Name: Sylvie Antoinette Beauregard

Face Claim: AnnaSophia Robb

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections: Yvonne Schneider (friend), Marie Simmoneaux (friend)

Biography Stub:

———————————————————————

Lucy Brown

Full Name: Lucy Delilah Brown

Nickname(s): L’anglaise

Face Claim: Emma Stone

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections:

Biography Stub:

———————————————————————

Briallen Black

Full Name: Briallen Diana Black

Face Claim: TBD

Appears: TMF

House: Undecided

Connections: Morgan Black (brother), Rhiannon Black (sister), Magda McKinnon (mother), Regulus Black (father), Aurora McKinnon (maternal grandmother), Cadmus McKinnon (maternal grandfather), Orpheus McKinnon (uncle), Marlene McKinnon (aunt), Maximilian McKinnon (uncle), Maud McKinnon (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Sirius Black (uncle), Anneliese Friedlich (aunt), Caroline Black (cousin), Elizabeth Black (cousin)

Biography Stub:

———————————————————————

Caroline Black

Full Name: Caroline Erigone Black

Nickname(s): Lina, Car

Face Claim: Yana Shmaylova

Appears: TMF

House: Gryffindor

Connections: Elizabeth Black (twin sister), Anneliese Friedlich (mother), Sirius Black (father), Liana Friedlich (maternal grandmother), Isaak Friedlich (maternal grandfather), Nicolas Friedlich (uncle), Emilie Friedlich (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Regulus Black (uncle), Magda McKinnon (aunt), Briallen Black (cousin), Morgan Black (cousin), Rhiannon Black (cousin)

Biography Stub:

———————————————————————

Elizabeth Black

Full Name: Elizabeth Cassiopeia Black

Nickname(s): Liz, Lila, Beth

Face Claim: Yana Shmaylova

Appears: TMF

House: Gryffindor

Connections: Caroline Black (twin sister), Anneliese Friedlich (mother), Sirius Black (father), Liana Friedlich (maternal grandmother), Isaak Friedlich (maternal grandfather), Nicolas Friedlich (uncle), Emilie Friedlich (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Regulus Black (uncle), Magda McKinnon (aunt), Briallen Black (cousin), Morgan Black (cousin), Rhiannon Black (cousin)

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Jakob Black

Full Name: Jakob Sirius Black

Face Claim: Hansol Vernon Chwe

Appears: LLB

House: Gryffindor

Love Interest(s): Katie Bell (endgame)

Connections: Katie Bell (best friend), Lee Jordan (friend), George Weasley (friend), Fred Weasley (friend), Leanne Moon (friend), Anneliese Friedlich (mother), Sirius Black (father), Phoebe Black (sister), Louisa Black (sister), Liana Friedlich (maternal grandmother), Isaak Friedlich (maternal grandfather), Nicolas Friedlich (uncle), Emilie Friedlich (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Regulus Black (uncle)

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Louisa Black

Full Name: Louisa Anneliese Black

Nickname(s): Lou, Lulu

Face Claim: Ella Gross

Appears: LLB

House: Undecided

Connections: Anneliese Friedlich (mother), Sirius Black (father), Jakob Black (brother), Phoebe Black (sister), Liana Friedlich (maternal grandmother), Isaak Friedlich (maternal grandfather), Nicolas Friedlich (uncle), Emilie Friedlich (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Regulus Black (uncle)

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Morgan Black

Full Name: Morgan Aeneas Black

Face Claim: TBD

Appears: TMF

House: Undecided

Connections: Briallen Black (sister), Rhiannon Black (sister), Magda McKinnon (mother), Regulus Black (father), Aurora McKinnon (maternal grandmother), Cadmus McKinnon (maternal grandfather), Orpheus McKinnon (uncle), Marlene McKinnon (aunt), Maximilian McKinnon (uncle), Maud McKinnon (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Sirius Black (uncle), Anneliese Friedlich (aunt), Caroline Black (cousin), Elizabeth Black (cousin)

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Phoebe Black

Full Name: Phoebe Vera Black

Face Claim: Kiko Mizuhara

Appears: LLB

House: Ravenclaw

Love Interest(s): Luna Lovegood (endgame)

Connections: Luna Lovegood (best friend), Ginny Weasley (friend), Neville Longbottom (friend), Anneliese Friedlich (mother), Sirius Black (father), Jakob Black (brother), Louisa Black (sister), Liana Friedlich (maternal grandmother), Isaak Friedlich (maternal grandfather), Nicolas Friedlich (uncle), Emilie Friedlich (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Regulus Black (uncle)

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Rhiannon Black

Full Name: Rhiannon Aurora Black

Nickname(s): Rhi

Face Claim: TBD

Appears: TMF

House: Undecided

Connections: Briallen Black (sister), Morgan Black (brother), Magda McKinnon (mother), Regulus Black (father), Aurora McKinnon (maternal grandmother), Cadmus McKinnon (maternal grandfather), Orpheus McKinnon (uncle), Marlene McKinnon (aunt), Maximilian McKinnon (uncle), Maud McKinnon (aunt), Walburga Black (paternal grandmother), Orion Black (paternal grandfather), Sirius Black (uncle), Anneliese Friedlich (aunt), Caroline Black (cousin), Elizabeth Black (cousin)

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Emilie Fournier

Full Name: Emilie Mariette Fournier

Face Claim: Kaylee DeFer

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections: Marie Simmoneaux (ex-best friend)

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Sophie Lanoix

Full Name: Sophie Lanoix

Face Claim: Leighton Meester

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections:

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Yves Laurent

Full Name: Yves Laurent

Face Claim: Ed Westwick

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Love Interest(s): Marie Simmoneaux (endgame)

Connections: Valérien Martin (friend)

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Valérien Martin

Full Name: Valérien Auguste Martin

Nickname(s): Val

Face Claim: Andrew Garfield

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections: Marie Simmoneaux (friend), Yves Laurent (friend)

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Thérèse Mercier

Full Name: Thérèse Mercier

Face Claim: Taylor Momsen

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections:

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Nathalie Morceau

Full Name: Nathalie Morceau

Face Claim: Dreama Walker

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections:

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Amandine Pépin

Full Name: Amandine Pépin

Face Claim: Sasha Pieterse

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections: Marie Simmoneaux (roommate)

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Leela Potter

Full Name: Leela Ayesha Potter

Face Claim: TBD

Appears: TMF

House: Undecided

Connections: Lily Evans (mother), James Potter (father), Harry Potter (brother), Merwyn Evans (maternal grandfather), Petunia Dursley (aunt), Vernon Dursley (uncle), Dudley Dursley (cousin), Lalitha Potter (paternal grandmother), Kiran Potter (paternal grandfather), Remus Lupin (godfather)

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Yvonne Schneider

Full Name: Yvonne Simone Schneider

Face Claim: Shailene Woodley

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Connections: Sylvie Beauregard (friend), Marie Simmoneaux (friend)

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Katherine Selwyn

Full Name: Katherine Lydia Selwyn

Nickname(s): Kate

Face Claim: TBD

Appears: LLB

House: Slytherin

Love Interest(s): Benedict Wilkes (endgame)

Connections:

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Marie Simmoneaux

Full Name: Marie Colette Simmoneaux

Nickname(s): Princesse

Face Claim: Blake Lively

Appears: ambs

House: N/A - Beauxbatons

Love Interest(s): Yves Laurent (endgame)

Connections: Emilie Fournier (ex-best friend), Valérien Martin (friend), Amandine Pépin (roommate), Gabriel Simmoneaux (father), Marguerite (mother), Ines Robert (aunt)

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Benedict Wilkes

Full Name: Benedict Michael Wilkes

Nickname(s): Ben

Face Claim: TBD

Appears: LLB

House: Slytherin

Love Interest(s): Katherine Selwyn (endgame)

Connections: Maya Sobreira (mother), Dante Wilkes (father)

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[mrleochan]

LLB Special ($10.90). As a starving marvin, I found this sandwich spot and immediately got lost in the menu. Dont get me wrong, the options they give you here seems limitless. Settled on the LLB which consists of "Roast Beef, Turkey, Ham, Swiss, Provolone" on dutch crunch. The sandwich is ready in no time and shortly after i'm inhaling this beast down! The sandwich was tasty and not as messy as I thought it would be. The dutch crunch gave it an exra "SF" flavor and texture. Would definitely be back to order something else! 😋🥪 (at Lou's Cafe) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjtNhjrPUE1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=