I'm a sucker for any movie that serves up a bada** nurse. So, you can bet your bippy I was up for checking out Simon Oliver's latest low-budget indie effort Bitter Desire. The 70-minute thriller centers around Nathan Hill's Steve, a slightly burned out cop who gets wounded while taking down Tass Tokatlidis's vengeful Andrew. 

Sent home to recover, Steve gets the help of a home health nurse, Sasha (Diana Benjamin), whose not quite professional behavior quickly arouses the suspicion of Steve's wife Lexi (Shar Dee). 

I bet you can see where this is going. For the most part, you're right. 

While scribe Thomas Bodine pulls out a couple of surprises with his mostly straightforward script, Bitter Desire feels like it would have been right at home as a 90's late-night Cinemax streamer. It's a little thriller, a little sensual, and has just enough action to make it worth a view even if it never really rises above a mid-range thriller. 

There's a decent little thriller somewhere within Bitter Desire, though mostly sub-par production values and hit-and-miss performances keep the film from rising above mediocrity. The chemistry between Steve and Sasha is solid enough, however, and both Hill and Benjamin redeem themselves well here. 

With a 70-minute flick, the tension needs to build quickly and convincingly. Unfortunately, that never really happens here even if we're not completely sure where all of this will end up. The thriller scenes are more meditative than menacing, a tonal issue that never really gets resolved.

And yet, I found myself fairly well engaged with Bitter Desire and I never felt the urge to turn it off. I mean, sure, I knew I was reviewing it. However, even as a straightforward view it's engaging enough from beginning to end. 

There's always a certain amount of grace one applies when reviewing low-budget indies. I wouldn't quite call it a gimme, but it's likely true that Oliver's budget here was less than the toilet paper budget on the most recent Avatar flick. As a critic, you have to acknowledge that within the tapestry of a review. While that doesn't mean, in any way, you automatically elevate a film's review, it does always warrant consideration. 

It's especially challenging when contemplating an issue like posting a review to Rotten Tomatoes, both a gift and a curse to a filmmaker. I'm not particularly fond of calling a film "rotten" but given the choices it's simply the way things have to go. Bitter Desire is a promising project that feels like it just needed a bit more incubation. The end result is a film with a terrific vision that doesn't quite live into that vision. 

I'm always a fan of discovering new filmmakers and actors on their way up. There's enough promise here to make me want to watch a couple of these performers in their future projects. While Bitter Desire never quite lands in its cinematic sweet spot, it's a promising effort and, yeah, that bada** nurse is mighty fine.

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic