You have never seen Allison Janey like this. The Oscar winner is known for taking on challenging roles. Playing an ex-CIA agent flirting with the idea of suicide has to top that list.
Lou, directed by JJ Abrams, finds the former spy living as a recluse, her only companion, a scruffy dog named Jax. Driving back from picking up groceries in town, Lou runs into her tenant, Hannah (Jurnee Smollett), reminding the young woman that her rent is due. After feeding Jax, she locks the dog in another room and takes a shotgun, placing it under her chin. It’s one of many failed attempts to end it all.
Ridley Asha Bateman as Vee and Logan Marshall-Green as Philip
Hannah’s husband, Philip (Logan Marshall-Green), is a former Green Beret who was charged with war crimes. He’s presumed to be dead, at least that’s what his wife hopes. Damaged by his time in the military, he had become violent towards Hannah, but never towards Vee. He’s not dead and he’s returned to take his daughter. He cuts the power in Hannah’s cabin, and when she goes outside to restore it, he takes Vee (Ridley Asha Bateman).
With a powerful storm descending on the area, Lou agrees to help. Before they can get into Lou’s truck, it blows up. Lou understands they are dealing with a formidable foe, someone who knows bombs and how to avoid being captured. They set off on foot, Lou leading the way. She manages to find a cabin where some of Philip’s friends are hiding. Pretending she’s an old woman who has lost her way in the storm, Lou catches them off guard and kills them both. When Hannah enters the cabin and witnesses the carnage, she realizes Lou is not what she seems.
Allison Janney as Lou, with Jurnee Smollett as Hannah
“I’m ex-CIA,” she tells Hannah, who expresses surprise at not knowing her neighbor’s background. “Well, I wouldn’t be a good spy if you knew,” she says. After 26 years, Lou left the agency, taking with her evidence of malfeasance on the part of the CIA. The agency would like those records back and have been pursuing Lou, the reason she’s gone into hiding.
With Lou using her tracking skills, she and Hannah are able to catch up to Philip, but not before some harrowing moments climbing muddy hills and traversing a wooden bridge that is ready to collapse. Both women are soaked, their clothing covered in mud and leaves. They finally catch up to Philip on the beach at Eagle Bay, where the former Green Beret hoped to board a boat. The final encounter is brutal and heartbreaking, as secrets that Lou has held in for too long are revealed.
Lou was filmed on Vancouver Island which stands in for Orcas Island in Washington State. The weather and the unforgiving terrain become characters in this action film, putting up a fight to keep Lou and Hannah from rescuing Vee. But Lou won’t be stopped, the reasons behind her mission to help Hannah finally revealed.
If you still see Janey as White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg in the West Wing, for which she won four Emmy Awards, or as Tonya Harding’s mother in I, Tonya, for which she won an Academy Award, then Lou will come as a great surprise. She transforms into a credible action hero, something she said in an interview about the film, she has waited a long time to do.
Lou is now streaming on Netflix
Photos courtesy of Netflix
