Bitter Desire is a pulp revenge thriller from director Simon Oliver. A cop named Steve (Nathan Hill) is injured in the line of duty and is convalescing at home. He believes Sasha (Diana Benjamin) is the nurse sent to take care of him, but she is, in fact, the lover of a criminal he just put away for life. In order to get to him, Sasha threatens his actual nurse, Harmony (Hao Dao), to make her quit, then takes her place. Steve’s wife, Lexi (Shar Dee), is suspicious of Sasha from the outset, finding her caregiving style to be more “hands-on” than she’s comfortable with. Steve is attracted to Sasha, who is beautiful, and finds himself often in awkward situations with her. With her incarcerated boo, Andrew (Tass Tokatlidis), pushing her to exact bloody revenge on Steve, Sasha begins to have doubts. Will she follow through on the violent retaliation Andrew demands?
Both Simon Oliver and Nathan Hill have experience in the making of minimally budgeted, sensational thrillers. Oliver directed lurid sci-fi drama Alien Love, written by and starring Hill as an astronaut who returns from a mission and impregnates his wife with an extraterrestrial surprise. These films specialize in shock and absurdity, and tend to keep the pace frenetic for the entire runtime, which is usually shorter than the typical indie film, clocking in around 75 minutes.
“…recovering cop’s home nurse is the lover of a criminal he just put away for life…”
Bitter Desire explores revenge, sexual boundaries, and betrayal, while keeping the story moving along. These thrills and chills come with little regard to narrative logic. To quote a cigarette-smoking man standing outside a porn theater, “this ain’t that kind of movie.” So, never mind that the policeman is getting home health care for a sprained ankle. Disregard the fact that his nurse’s professional uniform looks more suited for the delivery of a striptease. Also, you can forget that Steve is not troubled by the unnecessary physical affection his nurse lavishes on him. What you want to know is where this is all going, who’s getting killed, and how it will end.
It should be clear that this is not deeply cerebral cinema. At an hour and change runtime Bitter Desire plays more like an episode from a series than it does a film, and the material stops just short of being porn, leaning on violence more than sex. Though it must be noted that the setup here would be ideal for an erotic encounter. The production values are minimal, with some shots appearing to have been made with green screen to save on sets. The sound is good, with clear dialogue. The performances are perfunctory, but functional in that the actors hit their marks and say their lines. For a viewer who doesn’t want to commit to full-blown smut, the tawdry titillation of Oliver’s film may be just the ticket.
"…tawdry titillation..."
