Although set on Orcas Island (the largest of Washington State's San Juan islands), the movie was actually filmed in and around Ucluelet, on the south coast of Vancouver Island (Canada).
Plot. In 1986, on Orcas Island in Washington, Lou, a loner living with her dog Jax, goes to the village to buy some supplies. She talks to the sheriff about her arthritis and he tells her a copper bracelet could help her condition. A mother, Hannah, plays hide-and-seek with her young daughter, Vee, outside their home.
Initially, Lou seems to sacrifice her own life in the pursuit of killing her son. But Lou's ending scene reveals that she is alive and still watching over Hannah and Vee. She secretly keeps an eye on them because she is now a fugitive, with the CIA trying to track her down.
So, what happens at the end of Lou? Before the film reaches its climax, we learn Lou's biggest secret: she's not merely a stranger to Hannah and her daughter Vee (Ridley Bateman). In fact, she's a former CIA agent with a familial connection to the pair.
Although set on Orcas Island (the largest of Washington State's San Juan islands), the movie was actually filmed in and around Ucluelet, on the south coast of Vancouver Island (Canada).
Ruben insists he doesn't need help and doesn't want to stay, but Lou and Joe think he needs help. Joe says if he stays he he has to commit to the program and will have no contact with the outside world, including Lou. Ruben refuses and leaves.
The biggest twist in Lou's ending is that Philip is actually Lou's son. Lou was aware throughout the entire hunt for Vee that she had been abducted by her own son whom she knew was Hannah's ex-husband, but this was not revealed until the film's ending.
It turns out both Lou and Philip are now wanted by the CIA: Philip for torturing hostages in El Salvador, and Lou for keep documents proving the CIA's involvement in the 1953 coup against Iran's elected Prime Minister.
The film is about a lost-and-found box and the unseen monster within. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 90th Academy Awards.
The game's outbreak takes place in 2013 with its post-apocalyptic narrative in 2033; this was changed to 2003 and 2023 as the writers felt the events taking place simultaneously with broadcast was more interesting and did not fundamentally change the story.
From a storyline or set piece perspective, Lou doesn't add much to the action genre -- but it does serve as a generally entertaining reminder that Allison Janney is not to be trifled with. Everything around her is different degrees of disappointing, but Allison Janney makes Lou worth watching -- if only barely.
Lou's big secret was that Phil was Lou's son -- someone she used her CIA contacts to get black-listed and arrested after he went off the rails in Central America. He was abusive to Hannah, so Lou had to get the monster put away.
Ridley Asha Bateman as Vee - Playing Vee, the kidnapped daughter of Jurnee Smollett's Hannah, Ridley Asha Bateman costars in Lou with just the third project on her resume.
A young girl is kidnapped. Her mother, with no other option, teams up with the mysterious older woman next door to pursue the kidnapper a journey into the wilderness that will test their limits and expose dark and shocking secrets from their pasts.
The film's final scene shows Hannah and Vee on a ferry, leaving Orcas Island for Seattle. The last shot then cuts to a woman watching them with binoculars from the top deck, wearing the same copper bracelet that Lou was given by the Sheriff.
The next morning together in an Airstream, Ruben works out, cooks, listens to music, while Lou sleeps. She scratches her arm, revealing where she used to cut herself, past wounds.
In the Netflix feature film Lou, which was released September 23rd, Ridley Bateman plays Vee alongside a cast including Allison Janney, Jurnee Smollett and Logan Marshall-Green, with the film being directed by Anna Foerster.
Parents need to know that Lou is a graphically violent and suspenseful thriller about two women attempting to rescue a child who has been kidnapped by her deranged father.
