‘Lovers of Hate,’ a film by Bryan Poyser is an intriguing (although at times slow moving) tale of bitterness, deceitfulness, and sibling rivalry, involving two adult brothers, Rudy and Paul. Rudy the eldest brother represents failure and Paul, the author of blockbuster series of young adult novels, represents success. The painful part is that Rudy, an aspiring writer, was Paul's original childhood collaborator on the stories and now he is estranged from his wife and living in his car.
Poyser cast is small, but powerful and convincing in this tale that could have easily turned from dark comedy thriller to horror film with a few additions to the script. When I asked Poyser about this, he laughed and said he realized it could have gone that way, but he really liked the more subtle stalker, creepiness of his film. I have to agree. ‘Lovers of Hate’ does what similar, larger budget films fail to do – hold the audience’s attention until the end, except that is for a few segments that spend too much time lingering and not enough time on suspense. The house, a character in and of itself, is remarkable and easy for Rudy to play his furtive game with his brother.
Chris Doubek plays Rudy and Alex Karpovsky plays Paul, and both men are wonderful in this. As the tortured Rudy, Doubek, impresses start to finish and according the cast, he deserves catering credit on the film too. I enjoyed hear them all at the Q & A that followed the film and found out that the film came to mind partly because of the house in which the majority of the film is set.
Getting back to the story and my reviews, Rudy epitomizes resentment and Paul empathizes, but clearly enjoys his success. They are as different as any two brothers can be. The one thing they do have in common is their love for Diana (Heather Kafka). Although Rudy is married to Diana and their divorce is impending, Rudy still very much loves her. Having taken full credit for the ‘Invisible Kids’ series of books, the opportunist, Paul makes his move on Diana inviting her to a house (a huge one at that) for the weekend in Park City, Utah. Unbeknownst to the couple, Rudy is already in the house, hiding and spying and leaving little clues of his presence, but staying elusive and intimidating.
I am not sure of distribution for this film, but art houses will benefit from showing it. It is far from perfect, but for its genre, I found it a good mix of quality performance and interesting storytelling. I cannot say I was riveted to the screen for the whole if it although others I spoke to were, but I was most definitely intrigued by Poyser’s (who wrote, directed and editing this film) efforts. I am placing a B- in my grade book.
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